You Really Want To Know?
by morgannia
Summary: Carly centered. This is a Jarly JasonxCarly fic, set before SonnyxCarly, slightly AU merging all we know of Carly's history as she confronts Luke, Lucky, Emily & Jason with the raw truth none of them knew. A little bit LuckyxEmily thrown in as well.
1. Chapter 1

AN - some explanation is needed. This is set in the past, I'm thinking 98-99. definitely before the Sonny/Carly hate sex, a little AU (I've cobbled together both Carly new (the incident with the 'real' Carly's dad and old Virginia's past - as best as I could remember) and it's sort of Jason/Carly - my first, last & always OTP (one true pairing), but only slightly. I need serious work regarding everyone's else reactions, but I just couldn't get this idea out of my head, so I had to type it up over the past two days & unfortunately unbetaed.

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Standing in Luke's, Carly felt cornered and maybe, she thought sarcastically that's because she was. "Trapped like a rat," as Lucky had so succinctly summed it up. Anxiously she looked over towards Jason, hoping that he'd bail her out, but she couldn't quite catch his eyes. Gathered around in a half-circle, she was surrounded by Emily, Lucky and her 'dear' Uncle Luke. The waves of hostility coming off them was palpable, but at least she lucked out somewhat – Tony, Bobbie, Robin and none of the Quatermaines were anywhere in sight.

"So sweet Caroline do tell, because inquiring minds are just dying to know. Exactly why are you such a bitch?"

Carly's chocolate brown eyes focused in on Luke with a fierceness that was almost enough to rock him back on his heels. "I don't know, Uncle? Maybe genetics?" She practically spit out the question, laden with bitterness.

He stepped forward, ready to challenge the defiant expression on her face, when he felt a heavy hand fall on his shoulder and knew even before he turned around that it was Morgan.

"Enough Luke. Leave her alone." Jason's voice was low and flat, his fingers tightening slightly in warning. But before anyone could retort one way or the other, Carly cut in.

"No. You want to know, Luke? You really want to know? Then fine, I'll tell you all!" She hissed the words, bordering on near hysteria, because there was only so much anyone could take and she had reached her breaking point. Damn them all, staring at her like they were god's judgment from on high. "But not here, it's too public. In your office." She spun around and stalked off, not waiting to see who, if any of them, followed.

Seeing the tears that glittered in her eyes and the furious tone in her voice, Jason grew concerned and cursed to himself as he pushed past Lucky and Luke rushed forward, drawing up along aside of her. He caught her hand and pulled her to a gentle stop. "Carly, you don't have to do this. You don't have to defend yourself to anyone."

She glanced up at him and smiled weakly, eyes awash with moisture. "I know, Jase, but I might as well get this over with once and for all. And besides," her smile dropped, "there's a few things you might want to know too."

He winced reflectively, wondering what secret she was going to drop like a bomb this time, while behind them Lucky and Luke smirked knowingly and Emily silently fumed. Watching the expressions cross their faces, Carly felt her resolve harden. Even Jason, who was her best friend and claimed to have her back, was so ready to believe the worst of her. She couldn't blame him, really, although the rest of them she considered fair game – no matter how hard she tried to make things right, it always ended so disastrously wrong. What was that they said about the best of intentions? She laughed caustically to herself, shaking her head, it was so damn typical.

Entering Luke's office, Carly hopped up onto the large desk and pulled her legs up to sit Indian-style, carelessly ignoring the papers that fell to the floor and Luke's obvious ire.

"Well that's just great Carly, trash my office, why don't you?" Luke glared at her balefully, kicking the desk as more papers drifted to the floor.

Leaning up against the wall, Jason's eyes narrowed slightly at Luke before refocusing on Carly who was just sitting there. Legs drawn under her, elbows resting on her knees, hair hanging in her face as she stared down at the paper-strewn floor and felt a stirring of concern even stronger than before. Carly looked defeated in a way that he had never seen from her before, even at her most desperate. He debated taking her out of there altogether. Whatever she had to say could wait and making his decision, he was about to step forward when she spoke.

"I know what you all think of me and you don't have a fucking clue . . . as usual." She snickered softly, without a shred of humor.

"Oh, spare us the self-pity, Caroline. Are you going to talk or what?" Luke bit out, beginning to lose his patience.

"Shut up, Luke. God, man . . ." She scoffed in disbelief. "You are such a damn hypocrite." Carly looked up to roll her eyes at him. "You act so self-righteous, when we both known what you've done in your life. You've got no place judging me. Them," she haphazardly waved a hand towards Lucky and Emily, "I get. They hate me, fine; maybe I deserve it, but you?" She shrugged incredulously. "You've done a helluva worse than me and yet half of this damn town loves you and the other half respects you. That, I just don't get."

Luke's fists clenched as he cast a wary eye to Lucky who looked back at him in confusion, he gave the Cowboy a tight smile as if he had no idea what she was talking about. And if sweet Caroline was talking about what he was afraid of, then she'd damn better keep her mouth shut or he really would follow up on his threat to kill her, although he made a mental point to figure out exactly what she thought that she knew later on. "I don't know, Carly, maybe it's your habitual lies or compulsive sleeping around that fails to endear you to Port Charles at large," he mockingly advised.

She really did laugh at that, head falling backwards, the absurdity of that statement getting to her. Jason admired the white curve of her neck, before he caught himself and slouched further. "Yeah, but if that was case, no one would speak to anyone else in this hellhole masquerading as a town. No, I 'm pretty sure that it's just me they hate, but it's cool. I'm used to it, from a long time back."

"Hey, if the shoe fits, Carly . . . " Lucky couldn't resist getting his dig in. And beside him, Emily nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, if you really hate it so much here, you can always leave," she added spitefully.

Carly slowly and reluctantly pulled her head back to face them, tilting it slightly to the side as her eyes met Emily's. "And that would satisfy you, wouldn't it? You're . . . what? 15? Maybe 16, Em? You barely know me, hardily ever have even spoken to me and yet you can't stand me? Don't you think that's just a little fucked up?"

Emily was stymied for a moment; unable to comprehend that Carly had actually asked her that and was seriously waiting for an answer. "I don't need to know you to know what kind of person you are. I know what you've done to people I care about – Jason, AJ, Robin and Bobbie, off the top of my head." Her words were even without malice and it seemed to her that Carly considered her answer intelligently before replying.

"Well, I generally think it's a bad idea to make judgments without knowing all the details. As far as AJ is concerned – I have no apologies, he got what he deserved, Jason isn't really holding a grudge, Robin just hates me, ask yourself and she'll tell you and," she paused, deliberating over her next words, "as far as Bobbie goes . . . Well, that's something you know nothing about it."

"Oh bullshit!" Lucky cut in, explosively. "We all know what you did to Bobbie, all of Port Charles, hell maybe all of NY State knows now. Nothing you can say can ever excuse that!"

Carly calmly shifted her attention towards her cousin. "Maybe, maybe not." She shrugged, seemingly apathetic to his proclamation. "But I don't understand why you take it so personally – "

"She's my aunt! Damn, just because you don't know what family is doesn - " He began angrily, only to be cut off.

"I don't know what family is?" She stared at him, hating herself for feeling so betrayed again when she thought there was nothing a Spenser could say that would ever hurt so much.

From across the room, Jason could see the widening of her eyes and the flash of stunned pain that turned them a shade darker in the dim light. Enough was enough, he thought to himself as he pushed himself of the wall purposefully and instinctively needing to put an end to this. Whatever Carly may have done for whatever reason, he didn't care, all he could see is that she needed him to protect her and he could do no less.

He wasn't going to standby and let her drag herself over broken glass like this when he knew that nothing she said was going to change their minds. Despite the anger he felt towards Lucky and Luke especially, he deliberately kept his voice even. "Carly," he began, his hands reaching out towards her entreatingly, silently hoping that she'd just give up and leave with him.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. It was going to get worse before it got better, if it ever did, she couldn't help but mentally tack on. And as much as she'd love to step into Jason's arms, she knew that as much as he might care about her - he didn't, couldn't and wouldn't ever let himself love her. She wasn't 'Saint Robin' and she wouldn't ever be, nor did she want to be. All Carly had ever wanted was to be loved for who she was, and that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. She'd fucked up far too much for that now, but she wasn't going to back down yet either. Slowly opening her eyes, she warded him off with one hand.

"Cut the dramatics, Caroline. Either start talking or get the fuck out of my office and club." Luke bit off impatiently.

"Yeah . . ." the dryly amused note in her voice and faint smirk didn't reach the dull, almost glazed over desolation that Jason could see in her eyes. "Family," the word seemed to roll tentatively off of her tongue as if she was pronouncing it for the first time. "I guess you're right Lucky, maybe I don't know what family is or at least maybe the Spenser definition of it, but then again I don't think that I really want to." She chuckled slightly, although it had a distinctly hollow sound to it.

"When I was a kid, I thought I knew the perfect family. Carly, the real Carly, had the most charmed life I could imagine. Her parents were great, she was great. I hated where I lived, not the house that you saw Jase, Virginia didn't more there until years afterward. I grew up in a trailer park, straight up trailer trash." She smirked sarcastically before anyone else could comment, because she saw that Emily and Lucky were dying to say something.

"Carly's family has this huge house, or so I thought at the time. She even had her own bedroom and a four poster bed complete with a princess canopy. I used to make fun of her for that, but secretly I always wished that it was mine. I used to even pretend sometimes that her family was mine. Her mom always let me crash whenever I wanted and her dad was the dad I always wanted. She had the perfect life. And I spent more time there, then with Virginia, like she was my sister. There was a spare bedroom that was sort of mine, but I always managed to hang out and fall sleep in her room on a daybed in the corner. "

She paused, staring off in a distant past where Luke's grumblings went unheard. Carly focused in on Jason, half shrugging almost apologetically, before she looked over towards Emily and Lucky. The bored expression on her cousin's face seemed to spur her on. "You don't really know what it's like growing up in a trailer home when everyone knows it. Not the worst childhood, I guess, but it really does suck. And as far as Virginia and I? We fought all the time, because I was a teenaged girl and salvation army bought clothes don't quite cut it in high school, so I was an angry, hostile brat. Her drinking and boyfriends didn't exactly help, but it got to the point where I didn't really care. It worked out, she had her JD and whoever of the week and I had Carly and her family."

"So how'd you fuck it up, Carly?" Lucky challenged her derisively as she drifted off.

"Oh spectacularly, of course." She smiled then, a mere thin, cruel twist to her lips that Jason found chillingly ominous. Whatever 'truth' Carly had to tell, it was coming and he knew it was going to be bad. He just wasn't sure who was going to be hurt more – Luke or Carly. He had to stop this before it went any further. "Come on Carly, it's getting late. Leticia is going to want to be getting home and we need to take care of Michael."

"The nanny can wait, Morgen. I have a feeling that it's about to get interesting, wouldn't you agree, Caroline?" Luke stepped in front of the Mafioso, all but taunting Carly, who rose to the bait.

"Oh yeah, she can wait a few more minutes, I think. After all, we're all having so much fun here, right?" She met him jibe for jibe, her chin raised in that stubborn way of hers that Jason recognized all too well.

"Sure and she's a big girl, aren't you, Caroline? You can handle it." He sniped again, hitting his mark with far more of a deadly accuracy then even he expected.

Carly instantly paled out to a barely there shade of white, before a furious rush of color bloomed across her checks, the angles of her face thrust into a sharper than usual contrast. "Now that's irony for you, Uncle Luke, 'cause that's exactly what he said." Her strange smile twisted once again in a perverse mockery devoid of any emotion remotely connected to humor.

The muted quality of her voice was lost in the painful tenseness that suddenly arose in the room as her words hung in the air like a visible brand still searing with heat.

Emily abruptly stiffened next to Lucky, whose hand reached out to hold hers tightly. Luke winced with a horrified expression, shaking in his head in a mute sort of denial.

Jason was the last to react.

Obviously based on everyone else's behavior they 'got it,' whatever it was. Frustrated, he replayed her words in his head again, before realization dawned upon him and an intense sense of helpless rage suddenly grew from somewhere deep inside of him. His field of vision narrowed down to just Carly, sitting there like some kind of broken doll - hair tossed carelessly to the side, eyes so soft that seemed to be made of melted chocolate and a bittersweet smile that was gouging deep fissures in his heart.

Before he could do something, anything to stop her, those brown eyes fell shut cutting him off and locked her away in a world where he couldn't reach. Her voice softened, taking on an almost little girl quality as her story drew them all deeper into a dark and ugly past.

"This one day, it'd gotten really bad. Virginia was at work and her boyfriend at the time really hated me, so I had to get out of there. I knew there was a hurricane coming, but I didn't care, after all if worse came to worse, I'd just crash at Carly's. I'd done it tons of times before, so it wasn't a big deal, but when I got there, Carly and her mom had gone out shopping. Carly was older than me by two years and was going to this spring fling dance. Her dad said I could stay over for dinner while we waited for them, but then he got the call that the roads were too bad to travel, so they were going to stay in a hotel."

Carly took a deep breath and although it was warm, Jason could seem her tremble slightly.

"I knew something was wrong, I don't know what tipped me off, but it just felt off . . . weird. I should've left, but the storm was coming, it was a two mile walk back to trailer park and the thought of being stuck there with Virginia's boyfriend – some trucker guy . . ." She shrugged. "I convinced myself that I was crazy, paranoid. Carly's house is where I came to feel safe. What could possibly happen, right?"

She started rocking back and forth slightly under combined pressure of their eyes and weight of her memories.

"I can't remember what we ate. All I remember is the power going out, so he lit some candles and then poured me wine. The good stuff, you know, not the cheap rotgut shit that I found in half-empty bottle sometimes in the morning at the trailer. I –I don't remember how much I drank, either, not after the 2nd glass anyway. The next thing I know, it's the next day and Carly and her mom are screaming at me, because they came home and found me in bed with him."

She opened her eyes at that point, tucking an errant lock of hair behind her ear, but stared off to some distant point in her memory.

"It was like something out of a nightmare. I was so hung over; it took me a few minutes before I really understood what the hell was happening. So sick and bruised under the sheet, silk I think. Carly and her mother were calling me every name in the book at the top of their lungs; I barely had time to get dressed before one of the neighbors called the cops. And then everything went from disastrous to just horrifying. We all wound up at the police station, child welfare services showed up and they took me to the hospital. It was . . . just so fucking unreal, you know?"

Carly's voice faltered, as she looked past the aghast expressions of Luke, Emily and Lucky, straight to Jason. He recognized that half-shamed and half-hoping look in her eyes that reminded him vividly of when she showed up on his doorstep asking him to pretend to be Michael's father. That look that told him, she knew she had committed the unforgivable, but needed someone, not anyone but him, on her side and Jason felt something clenching deep in his chest. He wanted to say something, no to do something, but he didn't know what.

Typically Jase, she mused silently. Here she was literally spilling her heart in front of him and all he could do was to stand there watching her with those cool blue eyes of his. Eyes polished like blue shards of glass washed endlessly by the tide. Smooth, blank and carelessly kind and she lets herself slip away into better memories, the leather scent of his jacket, and familiar pungency of gun oil.

Jason Morgan, the love of her life who will never love her

Carly, waits for the space of one heartbeat, before gracing him with a painfully knowing bittersweet smile and forcing herself to continue.

"Not surprisingly, Carly and her family got their stories straight. I'd gone from being Carly's best friend and someone her parent's used to joke was their adopted daughter to being a wild and out of control 'troubled teenager.' A home-wrecking hussy, teasing slut and Lolita. It went on and on . . . and those were the polite ones. I should have expected that and on one level, I kinda did, but imaging it in the hospital room and actually living through it back in high school were different. We all lived in a small town and secrets like that don't stay secret very long."

"Time passed. He was eventually arrested but never convicted of anything, hung himself the day before the trial began. At least I didn't have to testify. And if it was bad before, it just kept getting worse. You think high school is fun now?" She asked in Emily and Lucky's general direction, "you have no fucking clue what's it like with fun," she spat the word out, "like that hanging over your head. Carly and all her other new friends, never let me forget, as if I ever could. Port Charles has nothing on my hometown when it comes to hatred for me. They make the Quatermaines and Spensers look like fucking amateurs." She laughed to herself; a harsh and ugly sound that sent chills down the spines of the room's other occupants.

"A few months later, I was back in the hospital – a miscarriage. Hell, I was almost part of the family. Just as well, I suppose, since as you so kindly pointed out, Lucky, I don't know what family is, right cous?" Her eyes seemed to burn through him as she threw back his own barbed words from earlier. Beside him, he could feel Emily's hand tightening around him, but the stranger he only dimly recognized as Carly didn't give him a chance to say a word back.

"Then it was Carly's birthday party. We were born on the same day, even though she was older and just turned seventeen."

Luke did the math faster than anyone. "Christ! You mean that you were just fourteen when that bastard r-"

She cut in before he could finish the word. "Yeah, lemme tell you, it was a helluva a freshman year. Anyway, we'd always had our party together, but naturally I wasn't invited this time. But I'd bought her present almost a year ago, before anything happened and I had no use for it. So I figured I'd just leave there, anonymously, what could be the harm in that?"

She took an abruptly deep and shuddering breath, tears welling up as she stared down at the floor again.

"It was bad timing. Her mother had just bought her a car, a cherry red, classic convertible – just the car we'd always talked about. And that's when Carly saw me, walking up the driveway. She gunned it and I – I just stood there, holding her present and waiting for the impact."

"Wait," Emily burst out with, "what does that you mean 'you just stood there?'"

Carly looked at her curiously and spoke very slowly, her words obviously exaggerated. "Just that. I just stood there, waiting."

The look of disbelief on the younger woman's face was matched by the two Spencers, but Jason felt that squeezing feeling even more intensely. Her next words confirmed his gut wrenching suspicions.

She sighed, as if vaguely confused by their reaction. "Think about it, Emily. Imagine yourself in my position for one second, I know it's difficult but try, ok? I'd just turned fifteen and already was the town whore and pariah. Failed out of my freshman year and was going to have to repeat, gotten pregnant and miscarried, nearly dying on the operating table. My own mother was too ashamed to even look at me, never mind the rest of the town and having to face that for the rest of my life? Would you want to? It's not like I much to look forward to. And then there was Carly – my only friend, the best friend that I had ever had, and whose life I pretty much single handedly destroyed. After what I did, I figured that she'd more than deserved the right to take mine if that was what she wanted."

Luke visibly winced, hearing her refer to Virginia as her mother. The rest of her words hit him like a sucker punch. He wondered, and not for the first time since she began, how the hell he had missed all of this in his search for her. The only reason that's he been able to convince Bobbie to give up her baby for adoption was to give her the chance of a better life than they could afford at the time. This litany of horrors was not what he had fought her real mother for.

"They said she was speeding and took the curve of her driveway too fast. All I know is that she was nearly on me, I could actually feel the vibration of the blacktop under my feet, when she swerved, jumping the curb past me and careened into oncoming traffic. The car spun wildly like one of Michael's toys, crashing into a telephone pole. She was only a few feet away from me and we could see each other through the windshield, she hadn't been wearing her seatbelt. Blood poured down her face and she stared at me, hatred in her eyes. I froze for a moment, then stepped towards the car. It exploded; the impact knocked me off my feet."

Carly tilted her head slightly to the side and gave an oddly quirky yet melancholic smile that was vividly reminiscent of the one Lucky had on the first time he'd gotten caught cutting class and had to explain where the hell he'd been. It cut Luke to the quick, painfully bringing home the fact that whether he liked it or not, this was his niece, with Spenser blood running through her veins, the baby girl who so many years ago smiled her first ever smile at him.

"To this day, I still don't understand why she died and I lived . . . I don't think that I ever will. God must have really fucked up that day, after all, it's not like there's anyone who'd miss me." Closing her eyes suddenly, she mentally added. "Except for Michael, I've never done anything to deserve this life and even that was a drunken accident," completely missing the flash of pain across Jason's face.

"So I woke up in the hospital . . . again, having missed the funeral, which worked out 'cause under the circumstances, I'm pretty sure that I wasn't invited. Hell, I was lucky her mother didn't get the cops to press charges. Two weeks later I left for good. Made my way down to Miami where no one had a clue who I was and lived on the streets for the next few years, only talking to Virginia once every month or so. She always said that she wanted to come back, but we both knew that she didn't really mean it."

"When that detective told me that I was adopted, you know I was excited for the first time in what seemed like forever. This was my chance to find my real family, a chance to make a new life with people who might actually give a damn and we all know how well that worked out, right?" She laughed softly, a tear broken free running down her check.

"So I came up to Port Charles. Despite everything, I really never meant to fuck everything up quite so much. I mean, it wasn't some conspiracy that everyone loves to imagine. Yeah, I didn't use my real name when I first got here, I didn't dare because I didn't know what to expect, so I figured I'd test the water a bit. I found my real mother, who abandoned and never once tried to find me, but somehow found the time and love to adopt two other kids."

"That. Was . . . Rough."

"And after that, hearing all about the Spenser family and loyalty seemed like a fucking bad joke, making it very clear where I fell in the grand scheme of things. So I got pissed off, I admit it, but I won't apologize for that to anyone." Carly looked up and defiantly stared Lucky and Luke in the eyes. "This family screwed me, period. And as far as Tony . . ." She drifted off for a long moment. "Well, that wasn't exactly intended either. I knew who he was, of course, but he had no clue who I was and I blamed Bobbie for that. I was supposed to be his step-daughter and my track record with father figures pretty much sucked, so when he talked to me, I listened, I wanted to. He seemed like a really great guy. Then he hit on me. And it was like . . . something inside me just broke, you know?"

Her voice grew stronger, even as her eyes took on a distant, faraway cast. "Like I was fourteen, suddenly back in Florida and it was happening again, I lost it. All I knew was that I wasn't gonna be the victim again. Never. Again. Not like that, anyway. I had to take control, anyway I could, and right or wrong, that's exactly what I did. I don't expect you to understand, you couldn't, but it really wasn't deliberate. I did what I felt I had to survive. Maybe Tony wasn't like Carly's dad, but I didn't know. There was no one I could talk, no one who gave a damn one way or the other. Just like always, I was all alone and I panicked, you know?"

"I came here lying for one reason and it turned into something else. I couldn't stop because if I did, if for one moment I had actually thought about what I was doing, it was all going to fall apart and I couldn't let that happen. He told me that he loved me and no one had ever said to me before and I wanted so much to believe, to belong somewhere. By the time I found that I was only a substitute, it was too late, because everything just spiraled out of control."

"You know, it's kinda funny when you think about it. Bobbie didn't want me even before I did anything. Virginia only adopted me to save her marriage and failed – he walked out and never came back when I was three. Carly's dad, well we know what he wanted and then Carly herself wanted me dead. Jason wants 'Saint Robin.' You want me dead, Luke. Tony who only wanted Bobbie, probably wants me dead too. Hell, you guys can get together and start a club. I'm sure there's more than enough people in Port Charles who'd join. Bobbie still doesn't want me. Virginia's dead, that's another one to blame on me. But no one ever wanted to know how I felt, no one ever asked, not even once. And all I'm left with is Michael, who everyone wants without me and as I've been told, probably won't want me around either when he's grown up."

Emily winced, recognizing that all too familiar reference to something she screamed at Carly sometime last month.

Untangling her legs from underneath her, they hung limply off the edge of the desk, hands clinging to the slight lip of wood, before she raised her head, hair still hanging in her face and pushed herself off. "Now if none of you mind, while I still have custody, I'm going to put my son to bed." She didn't wait for a response as she strode to the door. Jason reached out as she passed him and was taken aback, when she flinched just out of his range. "Johnny'll go with me. I just . . . want to be alone, ok, Jase?" Behind her hair, he saw the tears she was hiding and dull, empty look in her eyes and against his better judgment stepped out of her way.

The door closed behind her, leaving an unsettled and silent awkwardness in her wake. After a brief moment, Jason nodded to Emily, Lucky and Luke before leaving. Emily and Lucky had nothing to say and making a hurried goodbye also left, leaving Luke alone. Walking to his desk, one arm swept out violently sending whatever remained on the desk crashing to the floor. Throwing himself into his chair, he slumped over, resting his head in his hands on the desk.

Memories and regrets flooded through him.

That first sweet baby smile and the look on Bobbie's face when he cradled her baby, his niece in his arms before giving her away. The first time he realized who Carly Benson really was. When he called 'Sweet Caroline' and then threatened to kill her. Bobbie's heartbreak when he told her the baby was dead and her voice screaming at him when she learned the truth. The way Carly's eyes dimmed when he first told her that she was just a slut and would never be a 'real' Spenser.

Sighing heavily, one arm reached down to the floor. He slowly and with a painful sense of reluctance, punched a series of numbers. The cheerful voice that answered sent another stab of sorrow through him. "Barbara Jean . . . we need to talk."

TBC?

I had intended this to be much more Jarly, but the ending point seemed so natural. If I get some feedback on this story, if there is any real interest, then I'll continue it, otherwise unless it gets back into my head they way it was earlier this week, this might be it. Any & all coments are more than appreciated.


	2. Only The Beginning

AN - some explanation is needed. This is set in the past, I'm thinking 98-99. definitely before the Sonny/Carly hate sex, a little AU (I've cobbled together both Carly new (the incident with the 'real' Carly's dad and the old (i.e.Virginia) pasts - as best as I could remember) and it's sort of Jason/Carly - my first, last & always OTP (one true pairing), but only slightly. I need serious work regarding everyone's else reactions, but I just couldn't get this idea out of my head, so I had to type it up over the past two days & unfortunately unbetaed.

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Chapter 2 - Only The Beginning . . .

Walking back into the penthouse, Carly felt utterly drained. Despite her best intentions, she had said more than she had ever meant to and knew all too well that there was going to be one helluva of a fallout, one that she was not looking forward to. That last look of pity from Jason almost broke her. Pity was the last thing that she ever wanted from him and pretty much 86-ed her last chance that he'd wake up one day and realize that he was in love with her. From past experience, she knew all too well that guys never fell in love with someone with her kind of baggage.

If it wasn't for Michael, she would've packed up her stuff and gotten the fuck out of Port Charles because there really was no future left here for her, but she didn't have the heart to do that to Jason or Michael – they loved each other too much. So somehow and she didn't have a clue how she was going to do it, but she needed to find a way to make this work or else. Leticia came downstairs and after telling Carly that Michael had fallen asleep already, she left for the night, leaving Carly to crash out on the sofa, wondering why she had even bothered to open her mouth earlier.

When the door opened, she jumped to her feet expecting Jason, but instead got the unpleasant sight of Robin, her own personal nemeses. Before she could even get a word in edgewise, Carly flatly informed her that, "Jason's out. No I don't know when he'll be back, no you can't stay and yes, I'll tell him you came by? Good, ok. Now do me a favor and kindly get the fuck out, ok?"

Ignoring the obvious hostility radiating off of the other woman, Robin strolled into the room and as if invited in for tea, delicately sat herself on the very edge of the loveseat. "I don't think so, Carly. Jason has said that I am welcome in his home anytime and forgive me, if I don't trust _you_ to tell him that I was here. I'll just wait for him, right here, thank you very much."

Her saccharine sweet voice combined with a simpering smile was almost enough to turn Carly's already unsteady stomach. "If Jason actually did say that, I'm sure he menat when he was here, but since he's not, I'd like you to get out. I live here too and having to deal with you tonight is more than anyone deserves. I said that I'd tell Jase and I'm sure you'll call him anyway to bitch about something, so either way he'll get the message. Now, if you don't mind that door is that way," she gestured impatiently towards the closed door.

"I'm not going anyway, Carly, so get used to it and if I were you, I wouldn't get too comfortable here. Let's get real, because everyone knows that it's only a matter of time, before Jason like everyone else in this town gets sick of your antics and kicks you to the curb." Robin smiled smugly. Outside the penthouse, Johnny had told her that although Jason was out, he'd be back shortly and Carly was so predictably. Pushed just a little further and she'd lose her temper, hopefully just in time for Jason to hear. The faster Jason faced the truth, the faster Carly Roberts would be out of their lives and the better off they all would be.

Carly rolled her eyes, Robin's threats loosing power from sheer repetition. "Don't you ever get sick of hearing yourself talk? Seriously, you just say the same things over and over again. Doesn't it ever get boring?"

Robin narrowed her eyes, glancing at the door briefly. "When Jason learns the truth about you . . .

Carly cut her off, laughing. "Learns the truth? Sweetheart, I hate to break it to you, but Jason knows all of my secrets and even if he's not thrilled with them, he'd not about to kick me out over them either. And secondly, learn? Like what, he's in high school or something? If so, then it's news to me. Jason knows the score about just about everything except you and soon or later he'll get over that blind spot and then we'll see who gets kicked to the curb." She smirked, speaking with far more confidence then she actually felt, but not about to let 'little miss innocent' over there know.

"No, not high school," she said condescendingly, "but you know as well as I do that Jason is brain-damaged and that you're just taking advantage of his weakness."

"Damaged?" Carly exclaimed, getting pissed off. "Where the fuck do you come off, little girl? You waved that word around like a goddamned banner," gesturing in the air, "never letting anyone, especially Jason forget. He may think differently but that is far from being damaged. And weak . . . Jason? Are we even talking about the same person? How can you claim to love him, when you don't even know who he is? And as taking advantage of him? Look in the mirror, because that's your game not mine. I don't manipulate Jason, I don't need to. For some reason, I don't understand he lets you get away with it, but the way you treat him. . . I can't seem him tolerating it forever."

"Are you threatening me?" Robin demanded standing up.

"If I was threatening you, believe me when I say that you would know it without a doubt."

"You are, aren't you? Oh, you just wait until I tell Jason, Carly. He'll take care of you!" She retorted defensively. If anything was going to send the boyfriend stealing bitch over the edge, this would be it.

Carly gaped at her for a moment, shaking her head in amazement, almost waiting for her to stomp her foot like a child having a temper tantrum, unable to quite comprehend how the little twit had come to _that_ conclusion. "Whatever. I bet you were the kid in school who always ran to the teacher tattle telling on everyone. That is the difference between you and me, you know. I don't need anyone to fight my battles for me. So go ahead and run to Jason, tell him how mean and nasty Carly threatened you."

Abruptly letting the door shut loudly behind him, Jason asked, "Tell me what?"

Hearing his voice, Carly froze, a sick feeling nearly overwhelming her. If Jason had just walked in and heard her . . . that wasit. After everything that had happened tonight, he'd never believe her now.

Smiling broadly in satisfaction, Robin walked towards him. "Carly here first tried to kick me out, when all I wanted was to wait for you, and when that didn't work, she _actually_ threatened me Jason," artfully shivering a little as if in remembrance.

Jason deftly avoiding her waiting arms, not missing the disingenuous pout and almost reproachful look she gave him, but focused more on Carly's tense and apprehensive expression. He sighed heavily. This confrontation had been a long time in coming and while he had made his mind awhile ago, Carly's earlier comments and the portion of their argument that he had overheard had made it more than obvious that he couldn't put it off any longer.

* * *

"What's wrong Luke?" Bobbie's voice grew more serious in reaction to the heavy undertones she heard over the phone line from him.

"I know that you don't want to talk about it, but I just learned something tonight about Caroline that you need to know," he began, having to decided to try and broach the subject delicately.

"Oh, what has that girl done now, hmmm? Slept with Sonny now or was it Allen this time? You know, don't even bother Luke, I _don't_ want to know. I have completely washed my hand of her. Other than my grandson, she could drop off the face of –"

Wincing at the beginning of what he knew from past experience would turn into a long drawn-out rant and wanting to stop her before she said anything more that she might regret he cut her off. "Barbara Jean, I love you dearly, but you really need to shut up right now and listen to what I have to say. You need to hear this and its best that you hear from me, ok?"

Bobbie sighed, eyes falling shut, wondering what it could possibly be now. "I'm going to come over now, don't go anywhere until I get there."

"Can't this wait until tomorrow? I was supposed to go out to meet Jerry in an hour?" She complained, displeased to have another night possibly ruined by her brat of a daughter. "I've already put Lucas to bed, gotten ready to go out and the babysitter just showed up."

Running his hand through his already mussed hair, Luke offered. "Ok, why don't you come by the club then?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll be there in ten minutes Luke, but I'm not happy about this, Luke. I'm really not."

"Neither am I, Bobbie. Neither am I." He hung up the phone and looked around at the ruins of his office. He was in no mood to clean up, not did he have the time. After a moment or two, he picked up the phone to make another phone to make another call. Not liking what he heard, he got up and dug his baseball bat out of the closet. Hell, he might as well get a few more good shots in while he could.

Just after ten minutes, Bobbie walked through the door, her jaw dropping as she surveyed the damage. Picking up a chair, she gingerly sat down, half expecting it to collapse underneath her slight weight. "So go ahead and ruin my night." She waved a hand at him. "Carly must have really done something this time to warrant this kind of mass destruction."

"Afraid not . . . not this time anyway." Luke rolled his neck slightly, before tossing the bat into a far corner. He pulled up a chair to set across from his baby sister, ignoring the crash of a glass vase that used to sit on top of a filing cabinet. Slumping into the chair, his head fell to rest against his chest as he fell silent.

On edge and not sure why, Bobbieimpatiently snapped her fingersin front of his face. "Hello . . . some of us have plans tonight. Can we get this over it, please?"

He looked up at her, eyes filled a bleakness she hadn't seen since the day he confessed exactly what had happened between him and Laura on the floor of the disco and she felt a dark premonition. She was ready to walk out when he finally spoke, his voice heavy with repressed emotion. "Has Caroline ever told you anything about her past, before she got to Port Charles?"

"Nothing but lies," she responded with a forced lightness that wasn't enough to mask her disturbed and suddenly frazzled nerves. Bobbie knew with a certainty she didn't dare question that whatever he had to say, she didn't want to hear. "Is that what this is all about? She's got a new 'woe is me' sob story now? Because if it is, I'm out of here, Luke, I swear it." Her voice rose slightly, veering off into near, but not quite, hysteria. The feeling of apprehensiviness she had felt since Luke's call, only growing stronger.

"No," he shook his head slowly, dropping it as if unable to look her in the eyes. "It's not a story this time. Too much of it fits and the way she told it, Barbara Jean. . . " His voice drifted off as he shook his head. "It's the truth this time."

"I don't want to hear it, I told you." She leaped out of her chair and turned, only to be held back by Luke's implacable grip on her arm. "Let me go, dammit!"

"Can't do that, darling. You've gotta to hear, you've gotta know." From the determined note in his voice, she knew he wasn't going to let her go until she listened and resigned, sat back done.

"Fine. Tell me if you must, but I'm not going to change my mind. After all, considering our childhood, how bad could it really be, right?" She threw back, somewhat hopefully, a faint smile cracking her lips.

A smile that quickly disappeared when he sighed.

"Considering that I don't even know all of it? Pretty bad."

When he was finished, she looked as sick as he felt.

"And you're sure this is the truth and not merely a ploy to gain sympathy?" Bobbie demanded, wanting him to tell her that was just a bad dream or another underhanded scheme.

"I wish, but like I said it all fits. The report I had on her mentioned some sort scandal in high school that the police got involved in, a car accident a few months later and then she dropped off the radar until just before coming to Port Charles. Her high schools records and work history are forgeries, not bad actually, but enough so that I could trace them back to the guy who did it and sure enough he's based in Miami. And you have to admit, it explains a hell of a lot."

"She still could be lying . . . "

Luke winced, hoping that she'd accept what he said at face value, but he knew better. " 'Fraid Not, Bobbie. While you were on your way here, I made one other call to Caroline's home town police department, who reluctantly confirmed the details of the rape, pregnancy and the real Carly's death and every detail matched up perfectly."

"Oh God, Luke. How this could have happened? Virgina was so nice, she was good people. Why didn't she let us know?"

"People change, Barbara Jean. We did. Some change for the better and some for the worse. Caroline said her husband left when Carly was only four." He shrugged, "Who knows what that did do her?"

Closing her eyes, Bobby rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hand. "And Miami?"

"Don't know. She didn't say much about it, but you and I both know how hard it is to live on the streets especially as a pretty girl on her own. We had each other and Ruby, but Carly had no one."

Abruptly opening her eyes to meet his, visions of the past – faces of nameless Johns ran through her mind. "Oh, God, Luke. What did we do?"

He didn't know how to answer the ghost of questions he saw in her eyes. "I don't know. The real question is what do we do now? Or better yet, what will she let us do?"

* * *

"So . . . " Emily looked down at the ground awkwardly, at a loss of words.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. That was . . . not what I had expected." Lucky smiled half-heartedly.

Pursing her lips, she sighed. "Do you believe her?"

"More than I'd like to, unfortunately, which pretty much shoots my hating Carly plan down. I mean Carly's a good liar, don't get me wrong, but that?" He shook his head. "You?"

"Yeah, I do. The worse part is I think that she really believes it was her fault." Emily looked up at him, seriously. "I mean, she was only fourteen, Lucky. That's younger than us. I couldn't image going through something like that."

"You won't ever have to. Trust me," he reached out and pulled her into a tight and reassuring hug.

"Yeah, but what now?" She pulled free to look him in the eyes. "I've never been a huge fan of Carly's and what she went through doesn't excuse everything she's done, but it does put it in a new light. I just feel like such a bitch, Lucky." She closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around herself.

"That bit at the end, what she said about Michael. I told her that. I told her that he'd be better off without and that he'd grow up to hate her. What kind of a person does that make me?"

"Oh, Em, it's not your fault. You didn't know, none of us did."

"Than _whose_ fault is it, Lucky? I mean, ok, I know that I'm not the first person she'd confide in, but how come no one knew? How did we all miss it?" Emily was nearly in tears now. "Everything we said and did just made it worse."

"You know that I've spent time at the teen hotline, I've heard stories like this before. Hell I was trained to recognize the symptoms of rape victims and I didn't have a clue. And in retrospect, Carly exhibits all the classic signs. She'd just so in denial, I don't even think she understand that it was rape. You heard her, she all but said that she let that girl run her down because she deserved it! _Deserved_ it, Lucky.

He tried to stop her, but she kept talking right over him.

"And, I mean, did you see the way she pulled away from Jason? Jason's my brother and I'll always love him, but . . . I don't know. Since the accident, he has no experience with something like this and she needs serious counseling. I don't know if she loves him, but other than Michael, she cares about him more than anyone and if says the wrong thing now . . . Lucky, it would be absolutely devastating for her. We all thought she was unstable before?" She scoffed mockingly.

"Em . . . Emily." Lucky reached out and held her by the shoulders, shaking her gently but firmly. "Look, first and foremost, Carly is a survivor. Yes, she went through hell, but she is a Spenser by blood, if nothing else. I have no idea where this is going to go, but it's not going to fall apart tonight. Tomorrow . . . I don't know. I'm sure my dad and Bobbie are probably working on something already and as far as Jason? He's a little smarter than you give him credit for it."

"If he didn't give a damn about Carly, he wouldn't have been taking care of her like he has all this time. He's not going to do anything to send her over the edge now. And while he may not know all the right things to say, he knows and understands Carly better than anyone of us. Going over there tonight wouldn't do any good now, so we've just got to trust that he knows what he's doing. " He sighed, letting go of her with one hand, to run it through his hair in frustration.

"I wanna do something as much as you do, but I don't think there's anything to do right now. I'm going to check with my dad and see what'd happening on his end and tomorrow, we'll figure something out."

"Jason's my brother and Michael is my nephew, so whatever you're planning on Lucky Spenser, you'd better believe that I want in." She demanded, showing a little more of that spirit he loved so much in her.

"As if you'd let me get away with cutting you out?" He grinned back at her, a little less brighter than usual.

"Better not," she teased him back, feeling slightly better than before. The idea of having a plan was like a restorative balm to her nerves. She and Carly may never be the best of friends, but Emily was determined to make amends at the very least. This not time, not just for the sake of family but because Carly was mistaken in believing what she _deserved_. After her mother died, the Quatermaines adopted her, giving her a second chance, because who knew what might have happened otherwise. Carly deserved a second chance and she decided to help bring that about anyway she could.

* * *

"Carly threatened you?" Jason repeated to Robin, while watching Carly close further in on herself – arms wrapped tightly around her chest, a shuttered expression crossing across her eyes.

"Oh yes, didn't you hear?" She asked, shooting a victorious glance to Carly.

"If you really believe that Jason than you seriously deserve her." She scoffed, clinging to her tattered sense of pride, refusing to give Robin any more to gloat over. Rolling her eyes, she turned towards the staircase to walk away. "I'll just leave you two _lovebirds_ to yourselves. " The disdain in her voice clearly hit her targets. Robin's eyes flared open at the blatant disrespect and Jason moved quickly to stop her from leaving the room.

"Not so fast Carly. We need to get this over with, once and for all."

She tried to shake his hand free, but it was a futile effort at best and sighing heavily, she allowed herself to be returned to the room, like a recalcitrant child, she thought resentfully, unwilling to put on any more of a show for the bitch.

"Sit down . . . please, Carly?" At the sincere note in his voice, she felt herself begin to soften and breathing deeply, she deliberately stiffened against him. Jason resisted the impulse to sigh. Carly would drive him crazy if he gave her half a chance. Leaning in slightly, he murmured in her ear. "Come on, trust me here for a minute, ok?" As soon as the words crossed his lips, he flinched internally, his face revealing nothing more than a brief flicker of darkness in his eyes. Under the circumstances, he wondered wearily if he could have possibly chosen a worse wys to phrase that question, unable to blame her if she walked out without another word.

She eyed him warily for a long moment and he unconsciously held his breath, waiting to see how she'd react. The light pressure of his touch stirred memories inside of her and almost unwillingly, she relented and nodding at him hesitantly sat down. Sitting on the arm rest of the couch, Jason made sure to stay in physical contact with her, even as he gestured to Robin that she too should sit.

The petulant expression on Robin's face was almost enough to coax a reluctant smile from Carly, but she was still far too anxious to really relax. Jason was acting . . . oddly, even considering everything that happened tonight. And while she was reasonable certain that he wasn't going to kick her out, she didn't have a clue what he had to say to little miss pixie over there that required her presence.

"So Carly . . . Did you threaten her or not?" Jason asked her softly, keeping one hand on her shoulder, which proved to be an astute call, as she abruptly tried to shoot out of her seat.

Held down, although there was no malicious intent that she could sense, she was still pissed off as hell. Glaring at him, she made a useless attempt to pry his hand loose. "Don't do this to me, Jase . . ."

"Carly, just answer the question, ok?" She silently cursed him in her mind, not sure what pissed her off more – the fact that he was doing this or that look in his eyes still had such an impact on her.

Shrugging carelessly, she wondered why she even bothered. "Yeah, sure, I did. Why not, you're not going to believe me anyway. Whatever you want me to say, I'm too tired, Jase, I just don't care anymore." She turned her head to stare at the wall, teeth creeping out to bite her lower lip.

"Wow . . . actually admitted that you did something wrong? Is the world coming to the end or something?" Robin sanctimoniously jeered and was taken aback by the narrowing of Jason's eyes as he shot her a look that had her all but squirming in her seat.

"Ok, that's enough. Robin, you need to back off of Carly and stop disrespecting her in her _home_. She lives here and that isn't going to change anytime soon." His voice was flat, delivered with a faint undercurrent of repressed violence.

"But Jason, you _heard_ her. She admitted to threaten-"

"I heard Carly being Carly." He cut her off without missing a beat, the anger in his voice now clearly audible. "What do you want from her? You knew that I wasn't here, but instead of waiting for me to get back to you, you instead come in here and go off on her. I may be _'damaged,'_ Robin, but I'm not stupid. I heard more than enough before I walked in to know _exactly_ what you were doing."

Robin stared at him, realization beginning to dawn in her eyes and Carly turned back to him with a smile on her face wider than he could remember seeing in a long time.

"Busted . . . " She snickered at the flabbergasted girl. When Jason tilted his head towards, one eyebrow arched, she started laughing. Hands held palm upwards, she swallowed her laughter a bit. "Hey man, you said it yourself, I'm innocent this time." Shaking his head, his lips curving into a small smile, and with one hair tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear.

"Robin, this isn't working out. I can't have you and Carly at each others throats and when you come here deliberately baiting her. . . I just can't do this anymore." He paused thoughtfully for a moment, his tone losing a little of its heat but none of its intensity.

"What are you saying?" Robin demanded, her voice higher-pitched than normal and wavering slightly.

"You know what I'm saying. Carly is a part of my life – "

"Because she won't go away . . ."

"No, Robin!" He abruptly stood up, his frustration evident in every movement.

"Carly is here because _I_ want her to be. I've never been anything less than straight to you about this, but you refuse to accept that fact, just like you refuse to accept me being in the business. It's like . . . like you have this idea of who I am and everything that doesn't fit, you try to ignore or make go away. Carly isn't going to go away, I _don't_ want her to." He stared at her, as if willing her to understand, but whatever he was looking for he didn't seem to find it.

Watching the argument unfold before her, Carly felt more awkward than ever. On one hand, she was enjoying watching Jason dress her down, god knew it was a long time coming and part of her wanted to run and get some popcorn, but at the same time she felt guilty as hell. On some level, Jason seemed to need the normalcy that he got being with Robin, although she didn't fully understand it, it wasn't really up to her to tell him who he should be with.

For the first time it looked like he was choosing her, but Carly wanted him to make that choice because he really wanted to _be_ with her, not because Robin goaded him into _not_ choosing her, if that made any sense. She had imagined this scene playing out in her head so many times and now that it was actually happening it felt like nothing more than ashes. All of these hypotheticals on top of everything else was making her head and heart hurt, but most of all she was so sick of always being the also-ran or winner by default. Looking back on her history with Jason, Carly decided that in so many, countless, ways she had always been selfish with him and this time, however painful it might be, was the time to make the right choice.

"Jason," she began slowly drawing their attention and raising one hand when he would have interrupted her. "No, you wanted to hear me talk, so now I'm going to." She gave the barest ghost of smile, all the while feeling her heart breaking and kicking herself for being so damn stupid, even as she forced herself to continue. "You really don't have to do this and not over me. You've done so much for me already, so much more than I can ever begin to repay. It's ok, you don't have to worry about me. I'm fine. Really," she added as he continued to watch her, disbelief written across his face, her smile stretching painfully thin and stood up.

Watching her, he resisted his impulse to shake his head and although it was difficult, he let her say her piece. Carly, even when she tried to lie was so obvious to him. As usual she had misinterpreted the situation, jumped to the wrong conclusion and was now trying to follow through on yet another misguided plan. For someone so attuned to other people and him, in particular, it never failed to amaze him. Carly's greatest failing was her sense of insecurity and that was why no matter what stupid disaster she got herself into, he always understood and was able to forgive her.

How could he blame her for being afraid? He didn't feel fear, but it dominated her, dictating reactions that to anyone else seemed unreasonable at best, but it was through watching Carly that he was able to gain an understanding of the emotion. Sometimes, she even surprised him and he almost wished Luke or Bobbie was here to see this, Carly wasn't nearly as black and white as people all too often painted her.

"It's ok, Carly, I understand," he said gently not wanting to startle her into taking off. "Are you finished now?" He waited until she nodded in confusion. "Good, now listen to me for once."

"I know exactly what I'm doing and this is _my_ choice, not because of anything anyone said or did." He directed his attention back to Robin who was alternating between rolling her eyes and twisting her hands anxiously. "Robin, you and I have shared a lot and you'll always be important to me, but whatever we had together is gone, if it ever really existed. You were missing Stone and I . . . I didn't really know who I was – "

All thoughts of trying to reason with him flew out of her head in that instant. She gasped loudly, caught between remembered grief and an intense rage. "How _dare_ you, Jason Morgan? You're actually breaking up with me over that _slut_," she hissed the word, gesturing wildly in Carly's direction," and you have the nerve to bring _my_ Stone into this? Over a piece of trash like her?" Robin shook her head as if unable to comprehend what had just happened. Her mouth shut into a furiously grim line. Her eyes viciously glared at each of them in turn, unsure of who she was angrier with. "Fine, keep the _whore_," the contempt all but dripping from her voice, but don't think for one damned minute that this is over."

And without a further word, she turned, stalking towards the door that slammed shut behind her.

TBC

Well, I've gotten one review . . . anyone else out there want to say something . . . anything . . . Bueller, Bueller? lol. I've got lots of ideas for this story so if you've gotten this far, leave me a review. It's good karma, you know :D


	3. Friends and Family

AN - some explanation is needed. This is set in the past, I'm thinking 98-99. definitely before the Sonny/Carly hate sex, a little AU (I've cobbled together both Carly new (the incident with the 'real' Carly's dad and the old (i.e.Virginia) pasts - as best as I could remember) and it's sort of Jason/Carly - my first, last & always OTP (one true pairing), but only slightly. I need serious work regarding everyone's else reactions, but I just couldn't get this idea out of my head, so I had to type it up over the past two days & unfortunately unbetaed.

* * *

Chapter 3 Friends and Family

Watching Robin storm off in a huff struck Carly as terribly anti-climatic. Where were the tears and renting of clothes she had expected? She carelessly fell into the couch and cast a surprised glance over to Jason. A slow smile crossed his lips as he walked over and sat down next to her. Stretching an arm along the back of the couch, he rested it along her shoulders.

"So, you think she got the message?" Jason asked a faintly conspiratorial note in his voice.

Carly stared at him in confusion, wide eyes darting from his face to the door and then back again. "Wait a minute," she sharply inhaled suddenly. "Jason, she said this wasn't over! Oh my god . . . She going to tell AJ everything, Jase. She's going to tell AJ and we'll lose Michael. You know she hates me, she'll do it and then AJ he'll take Michael away from me just like he always said that he would. And then AJ will tell his family and Emily will tell him everything and they'll say that I'm unfit and – " The words erupted from her in a panicked frenzy.

"Whoa . . . " Jason placed both of his hands on either side of her face, gently but inexorably compelling her to look directly at him. "Carly. Calm. Down. Robin isn't a threat to us. That's why I wanted you to stay here, so you'd see and understand. If she knows what is good for her, she won't say anything – "

"But – "

"But nothing." He continued speaking over her. "And even if AJ finds out, nothing is going to happen."

"But a blood test will – "

"Will show that I'm Michael's father, just like you've always said, if it even gets that far." Jason waited a moment for her understand what he was telling her. "We're not going to let anyway, especially not Quatermines take him away, I promise you."

She shut her mouth, staring him for a long moment. "Jason, I appreciate this more than you know, but-" he started to interrupt her and she placed one finger against his lips, "it may not stop with just a blood test and either way, eventually someone is going to figure out that all they have to is ask you if you are his biological father and then what?"

Kissing her finger, he pulled her hand away and held it with his own. "And then I tell he is. As long as we tell the same story, Carly no one is ever going to know otherwise. I know that this started off as a temporary thing, but we can make it work, we can be a real family," he hesitated, an unusually tentative expression on his face, "if that's what you still want?"

"Jason, you know what I want, what I've _always _wanted, but like _this_?" She pulled away from him, her hands moving emphasizing her words and as he noticed subtly creating even more distance between them. "You have to want this because it's what you really want, not what you think I need because of the mess I've gotten myself into or because of my past or what you think that you should do. And I don't think that we're in a place where you can really make that decision without thinking of everything else." She paused for a moment, looking down at the floor pensively, before quickly adding. "I'm not saying that it can't happen, but it's going to take time. You don't really trust me and I don't know if I can trust myself."

Jason sighed. He could always count on Carly to make things more difficult then they had to be, but at the same time, he didn't want to do anything to exacerbate the situation. "That's cool. If you want time, then we've got all the time in the world. Carly," he reached out, just touching her chin enough to tilt her face up to his own, "I'm not going anywhere, so I can wait until it's right for both of us."

Leaning forward slightly, he brushed his lips delicately across her forehead, lingering there a shade longer than necessary, ignoring his impulse to go further and reached up to pull her to her feet. "I don't know about you, but I'm beat."

Seeing the hint of arousal in her eyes, he closed his eyes for a moment, before regaining control and taking her by the hand, began moving towards the staircase.

Walking next to him, Carly had to remind herself to keep breathing, because when he kissed her, even though she knew it would've been the worse thing to do, she wanted nothing more than to go back to his room with him. The feel of her hand securely held within his larger one did nothing to dispel her impulse. And watching him walk away as he left her at her bedroom door, she had to physically force herself to walk into it and not follow him.

* * *

Lying in his bed, Jason wondered if Carly was getting any sleep, because he sure as hell wasn't. Staring up at the ceiling, he couldn't close his eyes without seeing violently incoherent images and Carly's voice talking about her past. And the longer he lay there, the angrier he got, but there was no one to vent his frustrated rage out on other Carly and that was the last thing he would ever do, now more than ever. Regret was an emotion that he often indulged in, but he give almost anything get his hands on that bastard before he hung himself. 

His fist slammed into the bed at his side, hard enough that he could feel the reverberations beneath him. Kicking back the sheets that covered, he picked up a pair of loose black light-knit sweat pants off the floor, shook them out, before yanking them on. Jason left the strings hang untied as he walked out of his room, intending on going down to the kitchen when he heard Carly scream.

Within seconds, he was just in her room, door flung wide open behind him. Realizing that it wasn't a hit (which was a damn good thing, considering that he was unarmed), he relaxed slightly, closing the door quietly behind him as he walked in those last few steps to sit down next to her.

"I must look like a wreck, huh?" Carly asked self-consciously, her voice a little too shaky for Jason's taste. One hand trying to smooth out her flyaway hairs and she brushed away a few stray tears with the heel of one hand, all the while avoiding looking into his eyes.

"Yeah right." He teased her, reaching out to tousle her hair. "You know you're as gorgeous as always." And sitting there in a t-shirt and what he recognized as yet another pair of his boxers that she had appropriated somewhere along the way, he knew it was true.

"Jason!" She stretched forward; trying to smack his hands in retaliation as he quickly pulled them out of her reach, smugly smiling at her. Leaning even further forward, Carly fell into Jason when he grabbed hold of her forearms and pulled her off-balance.

Laughingly, she opened her mouth to make some bratty comment . . . and abruptly shut it, realizing how close she actually was to him. Jason held in a firm grip, mere inches away from his body and Carly could feel the heat from his bare chest radiate through the thinly wore cotton of her shirt. Her eyes found his and with a slow smile, she realized that his eyes were focused a little lower on her lips, less than a finger span away from his.

"I thought we had agreed to take things slow, Jase." Her voice was breathless to her own ears and when she saw his eyes darken in that all too familiar way, she felt that stirring of tension inside of her.

Carly's arms were bent at the elbows and all but pinned to her shoulders, even as she leaned towards him at a slight angle, resting on her knees. His eyes narrowed as he watched her throat arch lift a shade higher, even as her every breath seemed to move her infinitesimally closer.

"I know,' his voice was rough as he took a deep breath and moved her backwards, before letting go of her arms. Jason's eyes fell shut for a moment and Carly leaned back, feeling strangely disappointed, despite her words.

"So now what?" She whispered, playing with the blanket in one hand.

"Now, I think it's time to go back to sleep, so move over, ok?"

Carly looked up in surprise. "You want to sleep here?"

He shrugged a hint of smile on his face. "Might as well. I wasn't getting any in my room and if you have another nightmare, then I'll be here. It beats staring at the ceiling."

Feeling better than she had all day, she made of show of moving over a few inches. "Awww . . . that's sweet, Jase, but don't think it means that you're going to get to steal the blankets."

"Whatever, Carly. You're the only blanket hog around here." He laughed, stretching out next to her.

"Yeah, just admit it, Jason, you just want to sleep with me," she smirked as he pulled her against him, one arm snugly falling just under her breasts.

"Go to sleep, Carly." His breath was warm against the back of her neck as she curled into him, feeling more relaxed than she remembered in a long time. After a few moments, he held himself motionless, feeling her slowly drift off to sleep in his arms, where she belonged. Looking down at her, he pulled her slightly closer, listening to the soft mummers she made in her sleep, reviewing the nights activities.

Carly had been right, of course. Robin wasn't just going to let this go, but he couldn't really make himself care beyond a dull sense of regret. He hadn't wanted to hurt her, after all, but when it came right down to it – between Carly and Robin, there was no contest in his mind.

He'd listened to so many people before . . . listened to their reasons why Robin was more right for him than Carly, but Robin had never really been able to accept him and try as much as he did, he couldn't be, no, didn't want to be the person she wanted him to be. Carly had only asked him to be himself. Reckless though she might be, she understood him without trying to change him and he had no doubts about her loyalty. He had fucked up before, giving her reasons to doubt him and he couldn't blame her for unsure of him now, but he could and would fix that. This was his second chance to make it right and he wasn't going to let anyone screw it up.

* * *

Lucky and Emily walked into the office to find Luke and Bobbie deep in conversation. 

Luke noticed them first. "Hey Cowboy. Emily," he nodded to the girl, who took note that Luke was still wearing the same clothes from last night while Bobbie was dressed up like she was ready to go out somewhere and visible upset.

"Oh my God, "Bobbie shook her head. "What time is it?"

"Ummm, a little after nine, I think?" Emily answered looking at Lucky who shrugged in agreement.

"Damn, I've got to get home. Jerry is going to kill me and the baby-sitter is going to rake in a small fortune from me." She sighed, standing up. "Luke, I'll check back with you in a bit, ok?"

"Good morning Lucky, Emily. Sorry to run out, but I've got to home before my baby-sitter take off," and quickly left.

"So I guess you told her then?" Lucky asked, pushing Emily into the free chair. He walked around the room, picking up random objects that were somehow unbroken and placing them in out of reach areas.

"Had to." Luke ran his hand through his hair. "She would have killed me otherwise. He eyes his son and the young Quatermaine now sitting opposite of him.

"So what's the plan?"

"Well, we're still working on that at the moment, "he replied carefully. "So what are you doing here Emily?"

From across the room, the two teenagers exchanged significant glances, before Lucky winked, revealing a slow grin at her encouragingly.

"Well, Luke," she began slowly, "I couldn't get what Carly said out last night out of my mind and –"

"You didn't say anything about it to your family, did you?" He cut her off abruptly, his question blunt and to the point. Carly's problems with the Quatermaines having made up a large part of his conversation with Bobbie, especially considering the youngest Quatermaines presence last night still weighing heavily on his mind.

"No way," she exclaimed, squirming a bit in her seat. "I would _never_ try to use something like that against her."

"Hmmm," the older man stared her down mercilessly.

"It's not like that, dad." Lucky walked across the room to stand behind Emily, a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he stared back at Luke, an implicit warning in his eyes. "Emily wants to help if she can." He was letting her handle this like she wanted, but wasn't about to let his father run roughshod over her either.

"Oh really?" Luke's expression relaxed a bit as he looked at the girl with a considering light in his eyes. "Help how?"

"Ummm, well . . ." Emily took a deep breath. Lucky had advised her, what to expect, but she didn't think that it would happen this fast. Remembering what they had spoken about last night, she decided that it would be best to just take plunge. "I feel bad about the way I treated Carly and some of the stuff I'd said to her and like the chance to try and make amends, if I can."

"Amends, is it?" He mused aloud. "Well, if it makes you feel better, kid, you're not the only one, but you've got to realize that your family – AJ, Alan, Monica and Edward to name a few won't be pleased about this, right?" He looked right at her. "And Carly herself might not be too pleased either considering everything. Is that going to be a problem?" He asked a curiously circumspect note in his voice.

Rising to the occasion, she retorted. "Don't forget that Jason is my brother and that either way the paternity turns Michael is my nephew - they're my family too. My family may not be the worst, but they way they feel about Carly," Emily shook her head, "she would never be welcome and it's wrong to try and take a baby from it's mother. Besides, I came to Quatermaines old enough to not get too caught up in all their politics. I love them . . . but I think that they're wrong in this instance. And if you're asking me to choose . . . well, I wouldn't be here, if I wasn't." Emily took a deep breath and leaned back, glad to have Lucky's support in this. She believed in every word she said, but knew that it wasn't going to be nearly as easy as she'd like.

Luke tilted his head thoughtfully. "Well, I was planning on circling the wagons and you should really think this over, before making a decision, because once you're in, there's really no going back, you know."

Emily rolled her eyes. "I'm not a kid, you know, Luke. Kids don't last very long at my house, which is another reason I think Michael should stay with Carly and Jason, regardless. I have thought this over and talked about it with Lucky. I know what could happen and I'm ready. My parents hate the fact that I hang out with Luke at all and going to see Jason, forget about it. I'm an adult and I know what I want and who I want to be with. My choice is made, I'm going to help whether you like it or not and if you're planning on cutting me out, then I'll go right to Jason and Carly myself."

"Hey now, I didn't say that." He grinned at her, before glancing up at Lucky, who smirked at him. "I just wanted to make sure that _you_ were sure. If you want in, then the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned, besides you'd be perfect as an inside source into the Q's schemes."

"Then you've got a plan already?" Luke asked.

"Don't I always Cowboy? Although it's nothing I'm sure that Jason hasn't already planned on, of course."

* * *

Bright and early, Robin stood outside Sonny's door waiting as Johnny woke him. She turned to glare furiously at Jason's penthouse down the hall, her temper only growing hotter by the minute. Her foot tapped impatiently, maybe she should have come by later, but she absolutely couldn't stand it any longer. If anyone could talk some sense into Jason it was going to be Sonny and when she told him what that money-grubbing slut had done this time, she was completely confident that he would finally do something. 

Johnny opened the door and pushing her way in, she stormed past the guard, nearly taking his head as she slammed it shut behind her. She didn't hear the muttered word, "bitch," from the other side as he gingerly touched his nose, unsure of if it was broken. Hearing the loud noise, Sonny turned around, taken aback by the militant look in Robin's eyes. "So who do I have to kill?" he asked with a smile, trying to tease her into smiling back.

"That bitch, Carly!" She snarled venomously, dropping her bag on the couch as she walked up into him, arms outstretched.

Unsure of what was going on, he obligingly hugged her, before pushing her back slightly. "Ok, I'm not sure what _Carlybabes_," he smirked sarcastically at her, "did this time, but it can't be _that _bad. Did you tell Jason yet?"

The faint smile that came to her face, when he used their little nickname for the bitch faded. "Oh, he knows what happened although not why. She actually got him to _break _up with me last night."

"Who . . . " Sonny stared at her, noticing for the first time, the tears that glistened in her eyes. "What?"

"You heard me." She sighed, looking pitiful, giving every impression of being heartbroken. "Everything was fine until last night. He came home; Carly and I were fighting – big deal, right?" She scoffed. "She started it, as usual because I just wanted to wait for Jason and it tuned into this whole big thing and she threatened me, then Jason walks in. And stupid me, I think that he's going to tell her off or something, but instead he takes her side and breaks up with, Sonny. He actually used _Stone _as his excuse. She manipulating him as usual and he doesn't even see it, Sonny. You've got to do something before she destroys him or somehow convinces him to come after me or something."

"Wait a second here. Whatever Jason has going on with Carly, he would never come after you and as far as Carly herself, don't you ever worry about her. She won't do _anything _to hurt you."

"But she already _has_, Sonny. She's taken Jason away from me." She clenched at his hands, tears spilling down her face.

"Listen to me, Robin. You don't have anything to worry about, I promise. Whatever is going on with Jason, I'll talk to him and straighten everything."

"He won't believe you! She got him so wrapped around her little finger that he doesn't even know who he is anymore. All she does is tell him these vicious lies about me and he believes her. It's sick!" She looked up at him, through wet eyelashes wondering if she was laying it on a bit too think. "All I know is that something must have happened at Luke's, because that's where they were earlier."

"Ok." He tried to calm her down, wondering what the hell Jason was thinking. "That's easy then. I'll call Luke up and find out what went down. He can't stand her about as much as us. Once we know what she did, I'll go to Jason and explain everything to him and you'll be back together in no time. Why don't you go into the kitchen and eat some breakfast and I'll call him, aright?"

Sobbing back tears, she nodded to him gratefully. Sonny turned to watch her walk out, before grabbing the phone.

Emily and Lucky looked up as Luke answered the phone. "Hey Sonny, what can I do for you?" A peculiar expression crossed his face as he listened intently. "Carly and Jason? Yeah, they were here last night."

"Oh really?" He looked significantly at them. "Robin and Jason broke up last night? Hmmmm, you don't say?"

Emily' mouth formed an O, as she glanced at Lucky, who just shrugged not particularly surprised by the news. He had caught on to Jason's reaction to Carly last night and while he didn't exactly understand the triangle between his cousin, Jason and the police commissioner's daughter, it seemed like Morgen had made his decision he'd been leaning towards for awhile now.

"Really? Well, I don't know how I can help you with that; I didn't notice anything out of the usual." Luke went on talking. "Right, ok then," and he hung the phone. "Well that's interesting, isn't it? Apparently, after Carly left, she and Ms Scorpio got into it and Jason walked in and proceeded to break up with her. This morning she ran to Sonny crying about it, and he wants to know what Carly did to Jason 'this time'."

"We should probably give Jason the heads up, because she's going to be trouble and if she gets Sonny on her side –" Lucky began before Luke cut him off.

"Sounds like she already has, Cowboy. And if Jason doesn't know that she's a threat, he will soon enough." He paused, before asking, "So kids, what do we know about her?"

"Other than she's the commissioner's daughter and a self-righteous prig?" Emily stood up in outrage.

Luke laughed, "Now tell me how you really feel."

Face slightly flushed, Emily shrugged. "Hey you've never had to eat dinner with her and listen to a lecture on why you shouldn't wear ripped jeans at the table. They were torn out at a bit at the knees, ok, but is that any of her business?"

Lucky smirked, lounging in the chair she just vacated and Emily's blush grew deeper as he scanned her from head to toe. "I think you always look good." His voice was low and she smiled back at him shyly, before turning her attention back to Luke.

"The girl just irks me, I guess. Don't get me wrong, Carly can be obnoxious on occasion, but at least she has a sense of humor. Robin is just so . . . smugly spiteful. I mean you should see the way she treats Jason, always correcting him like he's a child. And don't even get me started on how self-centered she is. It's like the world revolves around her and her sense of 'propriety'," her voice took on a slightly mocking tone. As Emily walked back over to Luke, his arm snagged her and before she knew she was perched comfortably on his lap, leaning back against his warm body, she could feel him chuckling at her brief 'Robin' impression.

* * *

Sonny hung up the phone, knowing nothing more than he knew before. He glanced up at the clock, rolling his neck; it was too early for this shit at this hour. Walking to the door, he looked curiously at Johnny who had a new bruise on his face. "Did you walk into the door or something?" 

"Something," was the short reply as Johnny resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Is Jason in?"

Yeah, he got back last night, Carly came home a little beforehand and then Robin showed up a few minutes before Jason. They're still there as far as I know."

"Ok, good. When you see Jason, tell him to come by, we need to talk." Sonny responded almost distractedly.

"Sure thing," Johnny answered to Sonny's back as he walked away. Leaning up against the wall, Johnny watched the door close and sighed heavily. "Dammit, Jason. I can't wait 'til you take over again. This is fucking bullshit, man."

* * *

"I know that you're awake, Carly." Jason's amused voice penetrated her cloud of sleep. 

"Go away . . . " she waved an arm in his general direction, landing on the warm surface of his chest, which he picked up, lightly kissing it.

"Get up, Carly or I will get you up." He taunted her, fondly looking down at her cloud covered head burying itself into his shoulder.

"Five minutes . . . " she mumbled, holding him tighter like he was a large, warm body pillow.

"I'm warning you, Carly." He waited a few seconds, before tossing back the blankets and sheets.

Surprised by the sudden shock of cold air, Carly clung to Jason for one long moment, before abruptly punching him with a loosely formed fist. Lifting her head to glare at him, she grumbled. "You really do suck sometimes, Jase. You know this, right?"

"Whatever you say, Carly, whatever you say." He laughed a little at the petulant pout on her face, dropping a quick but deeply intense kiss on her stunned lips, before he rolled out from underneath her and off of the bed. "I expect to see you downstairs, awake and dressed, in thirty minutes." At the aghast expression on her face, he laughed some more. "Ok, forty-five minutes, but no later."

He easily ducked the pillow she half-heartedly threw at him and walked out.

* * *

"Anything else?" A lazy voice asked. 

"No, madame. That's all the information that the tape picked up, before it was apparently destroyed." The voice over the speaker voice respectfully spoke.

"Excellent. In addition to your earlier orders, I want you to find and acquire all the original documentation of the events, before destroying any evidence of your presence."

"Destroy the evidence?"

"Yes. Steal them, burn the buildings, blow up the entire town if you must, I do i _not /i _care. Do whatever is necessary, so long as I have the only records and there is no trace of our activities to see the light of day again, understand me?" The first voice imperiously demanded.

"Yes, madame. I understand," the voice on the phone obsequiously replied.

"Excellent. Do not disappoint me in this." An autocratic wave of a hand quickly sent a servant scurrying to disconnect the phone.

"Begin the travel preparations. We're going to Port Charles to pay a visit some old 'friends' and, of course, family." The voice ominously chuckled.

TBC

Well, I've gottensix (six . . . ok, now i feel like the Count from sesame street)review . . . anyone else out there want to say something . . . anything . . . Bueller, Bueller? lol. I've got lots of ideas for this story so if you've gotten this far, leave me a review. It's good karma, you know :D


	4. Stick To The Script

Downstairs, Jason heard a knock at the door. Looking back at the staircase, Carly still hadn't come down and he shook his head, before walking over and opening it.

"Jason, we need to talk," Johnny declared, walking into the penthouse.

Lifting one eyebrow, Jason stepped aside. Looking out into the hallway, he saw Francis move to take position outside of Sonny's door and gave him a knowing nod. Jason acknowledged it with a nod of his own, before letting the door fall shut.

"Do I really want to know?" He asked dryly, tilting his head towards the staircase.

Getting the message, Johnny lowered his voice. "Just to give you the heads up, _Ms Scorpio_," the scorn in his voice was clearly evident, "is in there with him. She showed up first thing in the morning, talking shit about you and Carly, mostly Carly, of course. And he wants to see you ASAP. Whether or not you like it, you know as well as I do that he's going to make an issue out of this."

"Yeah I know. Sonny is nothing if not predictable." Jason stared off into the distance for a moment. "Just keep working on what we talked about and leave Sonny to me for now. Hopefully this will blow over, but if not, then we'll be ready for it, ok?"

Johnny looked slightly disgruntled and sighed. "Ok, man. You're the boss."

Jason looked at him, tilting his head to the side. "What happened to your nose?"

"The fucking twit . . . Don't even ask, 'cause trust me, you just don't want to know." The other man rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Cracking a smile, Jason smirked. "Whatever, it's your face, DeMarco. You'd better switch back with Francis before anyone notices. I'll be over in a few minutes."

"You got it." The guard made his exit.

Jason started towards the stairs when he saw Carly coming down.

"You know that _I_ know you're late, right?"

"Yeah, so what?" She shrugged. "You were busy talking with Johnny and you both looked a little intent on whatever you were talking about so I left you two alone," she offered in her defense, grabbing a bowl and some cereal.

"Right . . . nice try, Carly." He smirked at her, before pulling up a chair next to her.

"You know, you could pretend to believe me once in awhile, just to change up the pace a bit," the tone in her voice told him just wasn't irritated as she would have liked him to believe and the way she moved her chair slightly father away ostensibly to reach the milk were enough to convince him that the last night was an aberration. Carly wasn't nearly as comfortable as she was trying desperately to pretend. The nightmare was the big indication, but the tenseness he was getting off of her merely confirmed it.

"Sure I could, but then again maybe you could realize that you don't have to lie to me." Jason watched her carefully and as a result saw her freeze up for the merest fraction of a second before recovering.

"Now you're just imaging things." She tried to laugh off his concern, studiously making sure to avoid looking him in the face. Why couldn't he just let this go, Carly was all but screaming in her mind? The little bit of calmness that she was clinging to felt all too brittle and if it cracked, she didn't know what would happen, but she wasn't going to go back to Fernwood. There was no way in hell that she could handle that again.

"Carly, don't do this . . . You don't even have to pretend with me. Whatever you're feeling, however you're feeling – it's fine. I won't push you or try and fix you or do anything you don't want me to do, but I'm here for you – for whatever you want or need."

"You want the truth?" She stared at him, seriously, watching as he nodded in agreement. "Fine. I need you to stop looking at me like that, like I'm going to fall apart, because I'm not. That shit happened years ago – I got over it and dealt. Yesterday wasn't fun, but it's not going to break me. I'm not a kid anymore, so stop treating me like one. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want or need your pity. It's all new for you and you've got to figure that out, I get it, but please just stop looking at me like I'm a victim."

Jason listened, but as much as he wanted to, he couldn't quite believe her. Carly might have believed what she was saying, but the look in her eyes didn't match what she said or more importantly how she said it. But at the same time, he remembered being in the hospital after the accident and the way the Quatermaines treated him. He remembered that out of control feeling, desperately saying whatever he had to get try and get away from them. He also remembered Carly's history of running when she felt trapped and could tell that she getting to that point.

"Ok, this is me backing off . . . for now." He raised his hands, palm up, in gesture of acquiescence. "But I don't think you're as over with this as you're saying. I promised you that I wouldn't push and I won't, but you have to promise me that you're not going to freak out and do something without telling me. Can you do that, Carly? Can you trust me enough?"

"When it comes to me fucking up? Yeah, I trust you. Before I fuck up . . . I don't know. That's harder, I generally do shit before thinking about it, but I can try, Jase – that's all I can promise. Can you handle that?"

"Yeah." He shrugged, reaching out to brush her hair out of her face. "Everything else, we'll figure it out. Are we cool?"

"Always." Carly smiled at him, it was weak but genuine enough that he was able to take a deep breath and return it.

* * *

While Carly went upstairs to wake up Michael, Jason got up and went across the hall to Sonny's apartment. Walking in, he saw Robin sitting on the couch, glaring at him through tears. His eyes glanced over her, scanning the apartment. 

"If you're looking for Sonny, he's upstairs. He said that he'd be down in a minute or so." Robin sniffed as if trying to hold back a sob. When Jason turned to leave, she added. "He wanted you to wait here for him."

Running his hand through his hair, Jason turned back, with a blank expression that made her hands inch with the desire to strangle him.

"You _can_ sit down you know. Even if we're not going out . . . we should still be friends. We were friends, long before she came into the picture and I can guarantee you that I'll be around long after her." She leaned a bit towards him as she spoke.

Jason stared at her for a moment, waiting for the other shoe to drop, because he knew that it was hanging somewhere over his head. There was no way, Robin would let go this easily. The silence grew between them as she fidgeted under his eyes. When it was clear that she was waiting for him to say something, he finally offered," we can try, I guess, but you're going to have to back off Carly. It wouldn't be fair to her otherwise."

"Oh god forbid, we not be _fair_ to Carly." Robin bitterly laughed. "Well, I'll take what I can get, I suppose, but don't expect miracles." The words grated in her ears, but she forced herself to say them anyway.

As much as she hated it, Robin had to admit that Sonny was right. She was going to have to bide her time, between her and Sonny, not to mention the Quatermaines, Carly would be out of Jason's life soon enough and when that happened, she'd be right there to help put his life back together. Antagonizing him now, would achieve nothing but Jason cutting her out of his life, maybe permanently. She reminded herself that all she needed to do was to be patient.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he tilted his head. She was definitely up to something and he'd bet his motorcycle that Sonny was somehow involved. Luke might have actually been onto something when he said give someone enough rope and maybe they'd hang themselves in it. Jason was about to respond, when Sonny appeared on the staircase, so with a nod of assent to her, he walked upstairs to meet the older man.

"Hey Jason," Sonny greeted him, his voice sounding overly jovial, as he patted Jason on his back a bit heavier than necessary. "I heard that you had a rough night," Sonny commented with an obvious jerk of his head indicating Robin downstairs.

Jason gave him a noncommittal shrug, but resolved to pay careful attention - this whole scenario felt more 'off' by the second.

"Yeah, Robin's a little upset, but under the circumstances and all . . . what can you do?" Sonny felt unusually awkward under Jason's steady gaze and found himself giving more away than he ever expected to do. "I have to admit that the whole caught me by surprise too . . . I mean _Carly, _of all people?" He shook his head as if almost laughing at a private joke. "But it's your life, man."

"Yeah, it is." Jason's voice was level, with a slight hint of sarcasm that missed Sonny completely.

"I'm not going to tell you who to be with, but do you really think it's going to work out?" The obvious disbelief in his voice was clear.

"Who knows, but we're going to give it a try."

"Ok, if you're sure. I always thought that it'd be you and Robin given how long you've been together." Sonny watched him, interested in his response.

"Things change." Jason met his eyes, with a shrug.

"That they do . . . but just between you and me, when it falls apart –" Sonny caught the slight coil of tension radiating off the other man and quickly amended his statement, "if, I mean, of course. _If_ it falls apart, you know Robin still cares and I think you might be able to get her back . . ." The half insult, half question hung between them for a moment.

There was a long and uncomfortable pause. Jason eyed him strangely, unsure of what sort of reaction Sonny was attempting to elicit from _that_ remark. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind."

Sonny smiled at him as if they were in agreementseemingly unaware of the overlaying menace in Jason's response and they continued walking upstairs to discuss business without having to worry about Robin overhearing. Watching Sonny's back up the staircase, Jason's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

* * *

Carly was sprawled out on the floor, playing with Michael, when Francis knocked on the door to tell her that she had visitors. She sighed for a moment, before calling Leticia down to take Michael out to the park, the baby didn't need to be here for this discussion. Once they were ready to go out, Carly opened the door allowing Luke and Bobbie in. 

"I'm almost afraid to ask what you want," she said, closing the door behind them.

"Carly," Bobbie began hesitantly, glancing awkwardly over to her brother for support, "I know how you must feel."

Carly stared at her before laughing. "Somehow I doubt that. It doesn't take long for news to get around town. Did you take an ad or something, Uncle Luke?" She asked sarcastically, sitting down on the couch.

"Now Caroline, you know I couldn't keep what you told me from your mom. Hell after the whole bit about telling her that you died, she would've killed me, but the ad idea isn't a bad one. I'll have to remember it." He threw in as if by afterthought, casually sitting down across from her.

This held the potential to turn into one helluva ugly argument, he could tell already, but it was pretty much what he expected. He warned Bobbie that she should wait a few days before approaching Carly, considering everything, but his little sister was intent on making this whole damn disaster right as soon as possible. He wanted that too, but Carly was a Spencer just as much as any of them and was spoiling for a fight. Luke knew that it was going to take time before she was going to be ready to forgive and even longer before she might trust them. Bobbie just wanted her daughter, so it fell to him to play the bad cop and try to draw some of Carly's anger. As much as it grated against his instincts, they needed to keep to the script or they would lose her.

"You would." She smirked at him, before directing her attention back to her mother, no Bobbie, she corrected herself. "So what do you want?"

Bobbie Spencer stared at her daughter for a long moment. Carly looked tired, bitterly so and she couldn't blame her. Not for the first time since she had learned that Carly was her daughter, she wondered how she could have missed it. Over the years when she imagined meeting her daughter, she had always believed that she would recognized her immediately, the fact that she hadn't had a clue for so long disturbed her more than she could express, shaking her belief in herself as mother. Her only biological child and she had failed her in so many ways.

"Carly, I know how everything went so terribly wrong between us," when Carly opened her mouth to cut her off, Bobbie held up a hand and continued. "But like it or not, I am your mother and you are my daughter. It won't be easy, but I'm willing to try again, if you are?"

"Try what . . . you _hate_ me, remember? And to tell you the truth, I'm not too far away from hating you, either. Just because Luke here couldn't keep his big mouth shut and now you're feeling - I don't know what, seller's remorse? – you think it's all going to go away? Can you look me in the eye and tell me you're over what happened between me and Tony and that you're suddenly able to forgive and forget?" Carly demanded, rising to her feet, unable to sit there with them watching her like a bug under a microscope. She knew better, but the little girl she had buried deep inside of herself, wanted to hear Bobbie say yes, even if the older woman didn't mean it.

"Honestly, that would be asking for a lot right now," Bobbie felt herself falter, when Carly spun around, a wounded look in her eyes, before it was quickly masked by an brittle jaded expression that was all too familiar. "I could say all is forgiven and forgotten if you want, but it would be a lie and you wouldn't believe me anyway. We can't undo the past, Carly, as much as we might like to, but we can make a new future and I want you and Michael in my future."

"Michael is your grandson and you helped when I couldn't be there for him – I'm not going to cut you off from him now, but anything beyond that . . . would be asking for a lot, Bobbie."

"That's fine, but I want that chance, Carly." Bobbie walked up to Carly who had moved in an almost defensive position behind the couch and reached out to touch her daughter's arm.

Quickly pulling her arm back, Carly stepped back. "Everyone wants something . . . you've got your chance, but I'm not promising anything." When Bobbie moved forward as if to embrace her, Carly waved her back, "I think that's enough Spencer togetherness for me. I've got stuff to do today, so . . . " her voice drifted off, as she glanced at the door.

Getting the hint, Bobbie hauled Luke up to his feet, who promptly shook her off. "Little girl, you haven't seen Spencer togetherness yet, but don't worry – you'll know it when it happens." He slung an arm around his niece's shoulders,blatantly ignoringher attempt to pull away, one hand landing on her more distant shoulder, squeezing it tightly enough to make it apparent that it was deliberate.

"Yeah, well, I'll remember that, Uncle." Carly sarcastically remarked, lifting his hand high enough to squirm out from under his grip.

Glaring at him, Bobbie grabbed his arm and started dragging him towards the door. "Ok, I'll be in touch, Carly."

"Me too, sweet Caroline," Luke smiled, giving her a mocking little wave, before the door slammed shut in his face.

Watching them leave, she fell into the couch, wondering idly if it was too late to go back to bed.

Outside in the hallway, Bobbie promptly smacked Luke across the stomach with the back of one hand. "What the hell was that about?" She hissed in frustration. "What happened to 'sticking to the plan'?" She demanded, keeping her voice quiet, so he wouldn't be overheard by Carly or the guards looking at them curiously.

"Well, you gotta take advantage where you can, Barbara Jean, and you have to admit, she was definitely offering one, consciously or not. Overall, that went much better than I had expected." Luke offered Bobbie an unrepentant grin.

"Yeah, with very little help from you, I might add." She hissed back, glaring at him from the corner of her eyes.

"Hey, it's your show, Bobbie. You're the one who's gotta convince her, the only one of us that she really wants to connect with. And as promised, I kept her in the room without running off and you got to be all protective momma bear against big bad Uncle Luke. What more could you have wanted?" He gave her a mock wounded look.

Turning towards him slightly, her face relaxed a bit. "True, but you really didn't have to be so obnoxious, you know."

Luke shrugged. "It's what she expects from me and you know how I hate to disappoint. Besides, if I had acted all sweetness and light, she never would have bought it and she wouldn't have been nearly as obliging."

"Obliging? Is that what we're calling distrust now?" Bobbie cracked a smile.

"Well, for a Spencer, you have to admit that she was very obliging under the circumstances,cutting us adamn sight more slack than you or I would have. You've made in an inroad, Carly'll come around to our way of thinking soon enough, once we've shown her the light."

The elevator dinged, signaling its arrival.

"I hope you're right, Luke." A somber tone entered her voice.

"Aren't I always?" He arched an eyebrow as if offended by the mere suggestion of doubt in her voice.

"You've just made it more difficult for yourself, you know." Bobbie warned, stepping inside.

"Don't even worry about it, Barbara Jean. The two of you will find your way and Carly and I will find ours. After all, what Spenser, and she _is_ a Spencer if I ever met one, could resist me long enough? Besides if worse comes to worst, I'll just cook her up a pot of Spenser stew; no one especially not another Spenser is ever able to resist that."

Bobbie stared at him in abject horror for a moment, before laughing weakly as he stepped in next to her. "Well, let's hold off on the stew for awhile, Luke. Jason will kill you if you send her off to hospital with food poisoning."

"Food poisoning?" He questioned her, a blank and confused expression on his face. "What are you talking about, Bobbie?" The doors shut, as their voices faded off.

A few feet away, leaning against the wall outside of Sonny's door, Johnny shook his head, memories of eating at Luke's rushing back to him. Spenser stew was the stuff of nightmares and something he wouldn't even wish on the twit. He made a mental note to warn Jason to keep Carly out of the club on Claude's days off, 'cause Bobbie was right. Jason _would_ kill someone if she ate that shit.

* * *

Sneaking back into her room successfully, Emily forced herself to go downstairs for breakfast. Meals with the Q's were never a particularly pleasant prospect, but she didn't dare miss it. She'd catch grief either way, of course, but making an appearance was infinitely better than skipping out, at least with everyone else there, there was a possibility of them finding a new target soon enough. 

As usual, it was a madhouse . . . people yelling across the table, the insults flying fast and furious, she half expected them to break out into a full-blown food fight, ala a high school cafeteria. Finding her seat, Emily kept her movements to a bare minimum, eyes focused on her plate. It was stupid, she knew, but old habits died hard. She couldn't shake the idea that if she pretended not to be there, then maybe, just maybe no one would actively notice her.

It wasn't that Emily didn't love her family, because she really did, but they just made it so difficult to like them and even harder to be around them. If not for Reginald and Lila, she would've taken Lucky up on his offer to run away months ago. Caught up in her own private musings, she nearly knocked over a glass of tomato juice placed to her left. Although she was quick to recover, keeping it from spilling, her slight motion was enough to catch Monica's eagled-eyed attention. "And what about you, young lady?"

Emily turned a startled and blank expression on her face.

Monica sighed loudly. "Your plans for the day?"

"Ummm . . . " Think fast Em, she told herself. "I don't know. I figured that I'd hang around and maybe help grandmother with roses." Emily winced as she realized that what she intended as s statement came out more as a question and a weak one at that. Showing any kind of weakness in this house was tantamount to inviting attack.

Monica narrowed her eyes and gave Emily a long considering glance that had Emily all but squirming in her seat. "You were out with him again last night, weren't you?" Emily opened her mouth to protest, but never got the chance. "Don't bother lying to me and trying to deny it – you look exhausted and I know for a fact that you weren't in your bed." The older woman's voice was icy cold, her fork falling to the plate in a loud clatter.

"Who was she with?" A booming voice demanded from the far end of the table.

"Who else, Edward?" Monica rolled her eyes, before answering her own question, "Lucky Spenser, of course."

"Oh Emily, you weren't . . . " Next to her, Alan shook his head wearily. He reached into his pocket and opening a small bottle, swallowed two small pills.

Emily turned away from him in disgust just in time to catch a glare from her grandfather.

"Is this true, Emily?" He blustered, waving a knife erratically in her general direction. "Did you spend the night with young rapscallion?"

Already sick of the tirade that she knew was about to commence, stomach tied tightly in knots, Emily abruptly pushed herself from the table and stood up, heedless of the glass tipping over spilling red fluid across the pristine tablecloth. "It is too early in the morning for this _shit_!" She instantly clapped one hand over her mouth when she realized what she had just said and how loudly it reverberated through the room. In the immediate silence, Emily whispered, "Sorry grandmother."

"It's quite alright, my dear." Lila was quick to soothe her obviously distraught granddaughter. "You are perfectly within your rights under the circumstances and I can't fault you for saying nothing more that I've imagined upon occasion." She gently smiled at Emily, letting her know that all was forgiven.

"Lila, it is certainly not 'alright.' This is exactly the kind of behavior that I'd expect from someone who'd associate with that juvenile delinquent. Alan, Monica – if you can't keep your daughter from seeing that criminal in training, then I'll be forced to take more serious measures . . . like boarding school!" Edward stood up as well, now pointing his knife emphatically at Emily. "This is for your own good, girl."

"For my own good?" Emily repeated in disbelief. "What is wrong with you people? Even if I was with Lucky, not that I'm admitted to anything, he's not like that! He's my friend, why can't you understand that?" Emily looked at Alan, Monica and Edward in turn, but the expressions on their faces were more determined than ever. Near to tears, she turned back to Lila. "I'm sorry grandmother, but I just can't deal with them." Almost choking on her words, she turned and fled upstairs.

When it seemed like they were about to follow, Lila held up one hand, stopping them in their tracks. "All of you," she glanced at each of them. "Leave the child alone, I believe that you've upset her enough for one day." Lila's voice although soft, held a thread of steel that none of them dared to challenge and one by one, they sat back down.

* * *

Lucky eyes didn't even open as he fumbled clumsily for the phone off somewhere to his right. His hand finally discerning its shape, he snatched it up and dragged it towards his ear. "Yeah?" 

"Lucky?"

Emily's distraught voice penetrated through his sleepy daze and opening his eyes, he sat up, sheets falling to the floor. Rubbing his forehead with his free hand, he glanced at the clock and realized that he had gotten less than an hour of sleep. "What's wrong, Em?"

Just the sound of his voice was enough to begin to calm her down. "I hate them so much . . . " Emily sighed loudly. "No, I don't really hate them, but I wish I could, it would make everything so much easier."

Leaning back his headboard, Lucky yawned. "Ok, let's back up a second and clue in those of us who just woke up, please. What did your family do this time?"

"Oh my god, I just woke you up? I am _sooo_ sorry, Lucky. I can call back later."

He laughed, a low and infectious rumble over the phone, still rough with sleep. "As if I could just roll over and go back to sleep now. You know that you can and should call me whenever you want to and even if you hung up, I'd have to sneak over anyway. So since I am awake, why don't you tell me what happened?"

"Just the usual bullshit, of course. I stupidly went down for breakfast because I'm a masochist and it was a free-for-all. Monica, Alan and grandfather were all over me." Emily lay on her bed, staring at her door, securely locked. She had no illusions that any one of them didn't have a key and wouldn't hesitate to use it at any time, but she hoped that Lila would keep them at bay for a little while longer.

"I'm guessing about me, right?" When Emily remained silent, he swore under his breath. Lucky cracked his neck, before he kicked his legs out. Sleep was going to be an impossibility at this point. "I'm sorry they're on your case because of me."

"Don't you dare apologize, Lucky Spenser!" Her voice came across the line fiercely defensive and although he felt a little guilty, he couldn't resist smiling when he heard it. "My family's fucked up issues are all their own. If they didn't complain have you to complain about, then you know that they'd find something else in a heartbeat. Either Jason or my clothes, the music I listen it . . . they'll always find something to criticize, something they need to control. You're the best thing in my life and the only thing keeping me sane, having to live in this damn house."

"So I take it that means that we're still on for the day?" Emily could hear the smile in his dryly teasing voice.

"You bet your sweet ass we are."

Even though he couldn't see it, Lucky knew she was blushing and he laughed again which sent shivers down her spine. "I knew you always liked me for my ass . . . " he said confidently, still laughing.

"Yeah, well, why else would I keep you around?" Emily teased him back, smiling.

"And they think that I'm the bad influence." He smirked. "So what time should I come by, beautiful?" He walked over to the window, wincing slightly at the bright sunlight that streamed through.

"Ummm," Emily glanced at her alarm clock, "give me two hours. Most everyone should be gone by then and I'll be able to sneak out without too much of a problem."

"Ok, see you in two hours then." Lucky walked back to his bed and still in his boxers, hung up the phone and crawled back into bed, he doubted that he'd get any real sleep, but any little bit would help at this point.

He'd just closed his eyes again, when he heard a knock at the door. "Get dressed, Cowboy. We've got plans to make and daylight is wasting." Lucky rolled over, shaking his head as he heard his father's voice.

Grumbling, he threw a pillow at the half-opened door, before pulling the sheets back over his head for a moment before tossing them aside. Yeah, sleep was _definitely_ going to be an impossibility today. Between spending time with Em, whatever the fuck his father wanted and that job he was supposed to go with Jason later tonight, there just weren't enough hours in the day. Yawning, he ran a free hand through his tousled hair and wondered idly, if he could spare ten minutes to take a shower.

Yeah, fuck it. If his dad was going to wake him up at this ungodly hour, then he could afford to wait a bit.


	5. The Question of Jason Morgan

AN - some explanation is needed. This is set in the past, I'm thinking 98-99. definitely before the Sonny/Carly hate sex, a little AU (I've cobbled together both Carly new (the incident with the 'real' Carly's dad and the old (i.e. Virginia) pasts - as best as I could remember) and it's sort of Jason/Carly - my first, last & always OTP (one true pairing), but only slightly. I need serious work regarding everyone's else reactions, but I just couldn't get this idea out of my head, so I had to type it up over the past two days & unfortunately unbetaed.

* * *

Chapter 5 - The Question of Jason Morgan

Despite every temptation Emily forced herself to calmly stroll out through the French doors, leading into the garden. Once out of sight, she retrieved the backpack she had stashed away earlier and made her way down to the gatehouse. She was running slightly later than expected and hoped that Lucky'd be waiting and not sneaking around the main house. The last thing she needed was to get busted now and knew better than to pretend that she'd be able to control her temper if confronted by anyone in the family.

"And here I was beginning to wonder if you were planning on standing me up?"

Lucky came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and Emily's fist rose automatically him in surprise nearly landing the blow, before she heard his more than welcome voice. Twisting in his arms, she hugged him, burying her head in his shoulder as if seeking comfort.

"Thank God, you're here. We've got to get _out_ now, before anyone sees us." She squeezed him tightly, before breaking free and grabbing his hand as she began rushing across the grounds.

"Hey, what's up?" Lucky tilted his head curiously, as he gave in and followed her lead.

"Seriously Lucky, we need to be gone, like five minutes ago." Emily sounded on edge and if there was any doubt left that something more than usual was going on, the way she intently scanned the area would have been enough to tip him off.

He glanced at her, taking in her tension and general sense of urgency, in sharp contrast to her earlier mood and old habits easily fell back into place. Lucky drew her back against the wall of the gatehouse, in the shadows cast by the overhanging roof, murmuring a faint shushing noise as he pointed at a nearby guard just passing in their line of sight.

"If you want to stay out of sight, we need to wait until he passes."

In the same low tones, she asked, "Where are the other ones?"

Standing so close to him, she felt more than saw his shrug. "At a guess? I'd say they're patrolling the other side of the property. They seemed to have changed the schedule a bit, because no one should be here now, except for the guy at the gate itself. Once this guy's gone, I figure that we'll have 15 minutes to get out. But good for us, they're lazy bastards so no one's discovered our way out," he grew silent as the guard passed within 10 feet of them.

Once the rent-a-cop began moving away, Lucky kept his eye on the guy's back, as he led Emily towards a large Hydrangea bush. He held the plant, so she could make her way behind it, before following her. They each squeezed through the narrow gap in the gleaming fence. On the other side, he held her hand as they began walking away from the Q's. "So wanna tell me what's going on?" He asked dryly, raising an eyebrow.

Emily sighed. "Oh, you're going to love this one."

* * *

Jason leaned up against a tree, sitting on the blanket Carly had insisted they bring along, a faint smile on his face as he watched her playing with Micheal on the slide, not sure which of them was having more fun – Carly or the baby.

His attention was distracted by the insistent vibrating of his cell phone. He ignored it for awhile and it stopped. Seconds later it began again and he caved before wishing that he hadn't bothered when he saw who was calling.

"Luke, whatever it is, this isn't a good time." Jason kept his voice low, not wanting to attract Carly's attention. He had promised her a few hours for just the three of them together.

"Yeah, I hear that, but I've just gotten some news that you can't afford to ignore." The serious tone in Luke's words hung for a moment and Jason closed his eyes.

"If this is about the business . . . " His voice drifting off, the point clearly made.

"I only wish. Whatever you said last night to your little girlfriend, sent her into a one helluva tizzy and she couldn't wait to run all over town with it. Your sister happened to overhear her spinning a nice little story to Junior, something about him being the father of Micheal, which as you can imagine didn't go overtoo well. So now to recap - I've got Emily here with Lucky refusing to ever go home again and your brother and that nest of vultures known as the rest of your family gunning for my niece and grand-nephew and I want to know what the fuck you're planning to do about all of this!"

By the time Luke reached the end of his speech, all pretense of calmness had long since been lost and he was demanding answers Jason didn't have at that moment. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Jason sighed. He opened his eyes and saw Carly catch Michael at the bottom of the slide and swinging him around in a wide circle.

"Don't fall asleep on me, Morgan, because it's like there isn't a crises going on or anything." Luke's sarcasm suddenly demanded his attention again.

"Ok, I'll be over around 9."

"9 as in . . .six hours from now? Did you not understand what I just said?" Luke exploded.

"What do you want me say? You're pissed off? Yeah, I get that . . . you think I'm not? Carly's playing with Micheal, she wants a family day. If Robin told AJ what I'm guessing she did, you think he's not going to act on it? Let Carly have a few more hours, without this hanging over her head. Tonight will be soon enough to tell her. Let Emily hang out with Lucky, but make sure she stays off the radar, until we get there, ok?"

"You're a real asshole, you know that Morgan."

"Look who's talking, Spencer."

"Don't be late." Jason pulled the phone away from his ear as it slammed down. He waited a moment, before hitting a number on speed dial. "Yeah, Alexis? Remember our conversation about Michael, I need you to be ready to move on it. I know . . . yeah, whatever you need." He abruptly hung up and called Johnny.

"Drop whatever you're doing. Tell Rick keep the Quatermaines away from Emily until further notice. Change whoever is on Robin to one of our guys. I want to know where she's been, who's she's been talking to, names, dates– everything. And when I'm not around, I want you with Carly andmove Francison Michael."

Johnny's eyebrows rose slightly. Jason's usually impassive voice was tense and as enraged as the other man had ever heard it, the calm and steady delivery made it seem that much more menacing. "Ahhh . . . ok, Jason. Might take some doing as far as Sonny is concerned . . . "

"Don't worry about Sonny," Jason cut him off ruthlessly. "Just leave him to me and take care of anyone else who gives you grief. Carly, Michael and I are going to be out for the most day, so I need you to take care of business. Robin ran to AJ and told him he's Michael's father, so contact our guy at the lab and make sure he knows what to do if it comes down a blood test. Hopefully we won't need him, but we need to be prepared. Talk to Benny, make sure he's got our priorities straight and find out who's our best bet as far as judges. Any problems or anything else comes up, you call me"

"You got it, boss." Hearing the click and then the dial tone, Johnny shrugged. Glancing at his watch, he winced realizing it wasn't even time for lunch yet. He sighed before making a series of his own calls. It was going to be a long day, but with any luck, someone would piss him off and give him a chance to work off some frustration.

At the playground, Carly narrowed her eyes, seeing Jason on the phone _again_. Picking up Michael, she asked him, "Wanna go see what Daddy's doing?"

A smile crossed her face, as Michael excitedly agreed. "Daddy, Daddy . . ." and little arms tightly coiled trustingly around her neck.

"Good idea, Mister Man . . . let's go and make Daddy play with us."

* * *

"Ok, Jase. What gives?" Carly gave him a quick sidelong glance.

"What gives?" He repeated with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah, what gives? Don't even try to bullshit me, Jason Morgan. I can tell when something's up – extra guards on me and Michael, your mood since the park, the whole 'I'm here physically, but really I'm somewhere else' mode you've been in for hours, and now we're going to Luke's of all places? If you're trying to be discreet, than trust me when I say that you failed, miserably. You going to tell me or what?" Carly tilted her head to look him in the eye.

"Carly . . . "

"Oh, don't Carly me . . . " She walked up to him trapping him between her and the elevator wall and poked a finger in his chest. "This involves me or you wouldn't be bringing me, so spill."

Jason sighed. This wasn't how he wanted to do this, but he hadn't figured out a better way to tell her and if let Luke do, she'd definitely freak and then she'd hold that against him for at least a week. "Fine, but you're not going to like it." He warned her and shook his head when she rolled her eyes at him.

"And what else is new? Stop avoiding the subject."

"Robin went to see AJ today." His words were flat, emotionless. The only hint of how tightly leashed his temper really was could be found in the hardening of his icy blue eyes.

Carly felt her stomach literally drop. "What?" The question was more of a release of air than an actual word. She felt like she had just tumbled over a precipice and was free-falling into nothing. Despite everything Jason had said, despite everything she had wanted to believe, she always knew this day was coming . . . the day Robin wouldn't be able to resist.

This was it - the beginning of the end.

"This isn't the end. Do you understand me?"

This was when she lost everything.

"You're not going to lose a damn thing, Carly. _Carly_!"

She'd was somewhere deep inside where he couldn't reach, so Jason stopped trying to reason with her and grabbed her by her arms, shaking her, holding her gently enough not to leave bruises but hard enough to get her attention. Wide glassy brown eyes met determined blue. "Listen to me. Whatever Robin said to AJ, whatever he's planning _doesn't _the hell matter."

"You don't believe that. You don't."

"Carly, damnit you can't freak out now." His words had all the impact of a slap in the face and she flinched slightly, before he continued in a softer voice. "So Robin went to AJ. So the fuck what? We knew that was going to happen, we talked about it, remember?. I'm already working on this. I've got a guy ready to doctor the DNA test, Robin's being tailed, AJ is being watched, Alexis is already working to stop this now if she can otherwise we'll go court and win, and even if all that fails, which it won't . . . Carly, we'll leave Port Charles. You, me and Michael. We don't have to stay here, we can go anywhere you want! I promised you, it would be ok and I meant it."

Carly took a deep breath, visibly pulling herself together. "So if everything's fine, why are we going to Luke's?" There was a vaguely accusing tone in her voice and hearing it, Jason smiled slightly, his hands now rubbing her arms instead of holding them.

"Emily heard what went down at the Q's and ran off there with Lucky. We're going to find out the details and because your family wants to help."

Carly's expression twisted slightly hearing Emily's name, but her eyes darkened upon hearing the rest. "You and Michael are my family, my only family, not them!"

"Sure, Carly. And that why you're so pissed." He stared her down, one eye brow raised.

"I mean it, Jase. Don't push me on this one." She warned him, eyes narrowed.

Jason laughed softly, hands held palm up. "No pushing here. But like it or not, they consider you family and they aren't going to back off. They wanna help, so why not let them. Even you have to admit, no one knows Port Charles quite like the Spencers."

"Oh right, just because you like them, doesn't mean I have do. You don't see me saying let's visit the Quatermaines, do you?"

"The difference is that I don't want them in my life, admit it or not youdo want them in yours."

Carly rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, I'm just dying to be accepted."

"Hey, I call them as I see them. You're the one who came here and when they didn't see you, made it impossible for them to ignore you."

"That just happened, I didn't mean it!" She retorted, clearly annoyed.

"Right. Who are you talking to here, hmm? I know how your mind works Carly. You are the most stubborn person I know and you never back down when you want something. I know you're angry with them, you've more than got your reasons, but it's there is more going on here than just anger. This isthat second chance that you came here for."

"I'm not saying to forgive them, but they not exactly going away. See how it goes. You wanted their attention and now you've got it. Don't you want to see what they're going to do about it?" He shrugged. "If you decide that you really don't want this, it's your call and I'll back you either way, but I think that you should at least see what they've got to offer."

"Luke's is going to try something, Jason, you know he will. He doesn't forgive just like that." Carly snapped her fingers.

"Neither do you and neither do I, but you laid a lot on him last night and I know he and Bobbie came by today. Did he threaten you in any way? You know that you just have to say the word. . ." He drifted off, looking at her seriously.

"Well, no, but he's not going to be that obvious, Jase. At least not with Bobbie standing there, anyway. He's got it in for me, always has, always will." Her voice rose slightly.

Jason sighed. Johnny had reported back Bobbie's conversation with Luke and from his own experience with the man, Jason knew he wasn't as bad as all that, but Carly and Luke had a . . . complicated relationship. In a strange way, they were very similar, but he knew that he couldn't say that to Carly without starting world war three. Hell, Luke would pick a fight with him over it too.

At the same time, Luke was more than confident in anything he set out to do or at least he had mastered the ability to appear so, whereas Carly went through life with her heart on her sleeve. And as anxious as she was right now, he knew it was at least ten times worse in her head. Although he didn't think for one moment she _really_ believed what she was saying completely, he also knew that a small enoughpart of her did and scared the hell out of her.

He walked up to her and pulled her into arms. "You know he isn't going to do shit. But if you go there like this, it's going to be like waxing a red flag in front of a bull, you know that. You're not going to let Luke Spenser bully you around, are you?"

"Yeah, in his fucking dreams, maybe." Her voice was muffled against his chest, but he heard enough to smirk over her head. Carly pulled away from him, composed and if not her usual self, cocky enough that he relaxed. "And don't think you're off the hook on Alexis as our lawyer either. We'll be talking about that later." The bell rang as the doors opened and she walked out, before looking back at him. "So are we going to do this or what?"

* * *

Standing in the doorway, Carly took a deep breath, her hand instinctively reaching out for his.

Jason watched her out of the corner of his eye. "Just remember if he offers you anything to eat, no matter what say no, ok?"

Carly looked back at him like he was crazy, before resolutely pushing open the door and walking inside. Next to her, Jason laughed softly.

Emily and Lucky sitting a little closely for his comfort, suddenly broke apart. Lucky just shrugged, while Emily looked a bit guilty. Jason shook his head, making a mental note to talk to both of them separately later. Nodding to Rick, his attention flickered back to Carly who visibly stiffened as Luke walked in from the back office.

"Running a little late, are we?" He asked caustically, lighting up a cigar as he moved past the bar to grab a seat. Luke smirked as he watched Carly's expression turn belligerent.

She shook off Jason's hand and stalked towards him, on the attack for all intents and purpose. "Should I expect Bobbie to pop out from a corner or something?"

Emily made a small production out of looking away, avoiding the impeding scene and Jason. Lucky rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat as if to watch the show. Jason cracked a smile, strolling behind Carly to rest a hand in the small of her back.

Neither Carly nor Luke paid any of them any attention.

"Wasn't on the schedule for tonight, darling. But if you really want her to make an appearance, I could always call her." He offered, as if thinking it over, while blowing smoke in her direction.

Carly's eyes narrowed as she smiled, baring her teeth at him. "Not like you to miss an opportunity. Old age must be catching up with you."

"Watch it little girl. Just 'cause you've got a kid of your own, doesn't make you too old to put over my knee."

Her jaw fell open for amoment and just when he thought she might launch across the table for his throat, Jason's hand rose to her shoulder, barely there, but restraining her nonetheless. Luke stared at her, resisting the impulse to smile broadly.

This was the Carly he was used to seeing, not that broken little girl from last nightthat henever wanted to see again. Even now, he could close his eyes and see the emptiness in her eyes, an emptiness born out of the kind of pain Bobbie and he had tried and failed to spare her. Just thinking about it was enough to reignite his temper that had already cost a small fortune in glassware to take the edge off. And he knew it was time to bring the sparring to an end, because as much fun as it was for both of them, they did have some serious thing to discuss. He stopped to ash his cigar, nodding to Lucky, who was quick to take the lead.

"Not to interrupt, but you both need to hear what Emily's got to say." Lucky deftly interjected into the abrupt silence.

Jason guided Carly to a seat, which she made a point of pulling away from Luke's table and moving to where she could face the younger girl and Jason also took a seat, reversing it to rest his one arm along the back, the other hung at his side, just brushing up against Carly. Looking a bit surprised and even a little put out, Emily began repeating her story.

While she talked, Luke focused his attention on Carly, analyzing her reactions. She clearly wasn't surprised at what she was hearing and he figured Jason must have given her a heads-up before they arrived.

Jason Morgan and his niece – now there was a relationship he didn't understand, or maybe more to the point, one he _wished_ that he didn't understand. And yet another complicated issue, he and Bobbie had discussed last night.

Before, he hadn't really cared. He'd been more than pissed by her coming to town without revealing herself and then with that shit she pulled with Tony? He'd just wanted her gone, but how much of that was out of anger and how much was out of guilt? Luke didn't know anymore. So what if she moved on from Tony to a mobster-in-training? Big fucking deal, at least this time she was only hurting herself. He had done his best to cut her out of his mind, because if he ignored the situation, then he wouldn't have to deal with it. Yeah, that really worked.

And now?

He finally admitted to himself that he couldn't walk away, even if he wanted to – not for Michael or even for Barbara Jean, but because he knew that he'd fucked up.

The adoption was a mistake on everyone's part, made with the best of intentions, but he still couldn't see a way around it. He was the one who had talked Bobbie into it, he was the one who handed her off without hesitation, but he should have followed up, should have made sure she was ok. When she came to town, he had known something was up from that first minute that he saw her, even before he know who she was and when he did find out, he didn't act soon enough.

Carly had fucked up a lot on her own, but she wasn't the only one at fault, not by a fucking long shot – there was blame enough to go all the way around and most of it stopped with him. She was still just a kid and the shit she pulled, considering her past was nothing even close to the damage he had wrought before he was Lucky's age, never mind by his twenties and for far less reason. But like everyone else, he condemned her without question.

You didn't treat family like that, no matter what they did. It was something Ruby had engrained in him, something he taught his children, but when it came down to it, he'd thrown that belief out the window with Caroline. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. Once this custody thing was straightened out and over and done with . . . he had amends to make and wasn't sure where to start, which brought him back to the question of Jason Morgan and where he fit into this.

The problem was, of course, that she trusted him, more than she trusted anyone else. And as long as he was in the picture, Carly would always have the protection, which in the case of Junior was a good thing, but at the same Jason would just as easily stand between her and and the rest of the family, if she asked him to. And Luke knew she would, after all he'd do the same thing in her place.

That was what really sucked about all of this.Luke liked the kid, always had, but from years of personal experience had no illusions left about the life. Carly had been through enough grief and getting involved with a mobster was only daring fate. Bobbie had disagreed with him on that one, going off on a tear about how Morgan was good for her, stabilized her, protected her . . . blah, blah, blah. And maybe Morgan did, but in Luke's mind that was a job for family, which Carly had, even if she thought that she hated them at the moment.

After all, it wasn't like Morgan was exactly what anyone would call a paragon of virtue. Luke wasn't blind or stupid. Robin had gotten her information from someone and it sure as hell wasn't Carly. Not to mention the way he had jerked Carly around for what, two years now? Even when Luke was forcing himself to ignore her existence, he couldn't help get pissed off about it. So now he was committed? Luke cynically wondered how long that was going to last. He hadn't really interfered when the whole thing was going on with Tony, but he'd be damned before he sat idly by while it happened again.

Sitting there, Jason could feel the warmth radiating off Carly. Em's story was winding down, it was nothing less than he expected. Robin had come by, had betrayed him and in turn both Carly and Michael. Vindictiveness was never something he had associated with her before, but there was no other word to describe what she had deliberately done. Jason knew that she'd have a host of reasons to justify telling AJ, but he couldn't bring himself to care and forgiveness was out of the question.

Lashing out at Carly was cruel enough, running to Sonny predictable, but this was beyond vicious. Robin knew better than most how AJ would react, hell she was counting on it. She forget who he was, or maybe never understood in the first place, whatever her rational was at the time, it was irrelevant. In the end, this wouldn't achieve anything other than to hurt Carly. From what Emily had said, Edward and AJ had already began talking to lawyers and planning to capitalize on the information. While he already was working to limit it, chances were they'd be going to court, so retaliation was going to have to wait. Jason knew that, even as he forced himself into a state of icy calmness.

The hair on the back of his neck rose slightly and he half turned to find Luke staring at him. Shifting his weight, he moved fractionally closer to Carly and wasn't surprised to see the older man's eyes narrow. Jason stared back at him evenly, his expression betraying nothing. Great, this was all he fucking needed.

TBC

Well, I've some reviews & I love them dearly, lol. anyone else out there want to say something . . . anything . . . I'm surprised no one asked about the mysterious (or maybe not so mysterious) figure from the end of chapter 3. Poor Carly, things are going to get a lot more complicated & interesting pretty soon. I've got lots of ideas for this story so if you've gotten this far, leave me a review. It's good karma, you know :D


	6. Sucker's Bet

AN - some explanation is needed. This is set in the past, I'm thinking 98-99. definitely before the Sonny/Carly hate sex, a little AU (I've cobbled together both Carly new (the incident with the 'real' Carly's dad and the old (i.e. Virginia) pasts - as best as I could remember) and it's sort of Jason/Carly - my first, last & always OTP (one true pairing), but only slightly.

* * *

Chapter 6 – Sucker's Bet

The next few days were anything but peaceful, between dealing with the Quatermaines about Emily, Cary and Michael, trying to ignore Sonny and Luke, meetings with Alexis and Carly which were a struggle just to remain civil, Carly herself and the business in general . . . Jason was exhausted.

He was an enforcer, not a damn referee.

There were times he hated that part of his job, but at this point he was just waiting for someone to fuck up for the chance to release some pent up aggression.

"I know what we should do tonight."

He looked up to see Carly standing above him, looking drop dead gorgeous. Almost afraid to ask, he watched her for a moment. "And that would be?"

"We need to go to Jakes. Play some pool and when you lose, as you will, we'll dance for a bit. Pizza and beer like old times. Leticia is on her way over and we need to get out of here and have some fun."

* * *

Sitting on a bench, Lucky stared out at the water not that was much to see, of course, in the dim light. 

"You look like someone with a lot on your mind. Anything you want to talk about?"

Lucky's head rose abruptly, as he tensed, before recognizing the voice.

"Hey Nikolas." Lucky sighed, glad it was only his brother and annoyed at himself for being caught by surprise. He'd lucked out this time, but couldn't afford to be caught unaware again.

"What are you up to, man?"

"Not much, just on my back to Wyndemere." Nikolas looked at him concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing . . . everything, take your pick. Family shit mostly." Lucky sat up a bit straighter.

The Cassadine's expression grew more serious, "Laura or Lulu?"

"Oh, no. As far as I know, they're fine. This is all about Carly, Dad, Bobbie, Jason, Michael, Emily and the rest of the damn Quatermaines."

"Ahhh, yes. I heard about that from Robin. So AJ really is Michael's father then?"

Lucky turned to face his half-brother who sat down next to him. "Well that's what she says, anyway. I know you're friends with her, but at the moment, she's topping my shit list." Seeing Nikolas's expression darken, he quickly added, "Just ignore that, I don't want to fight with you over her. I'm too busy fighting everyone at the moment. Anyway, Carly and Jason are denying it, of course, but what else is new?"

For a moment, it looked like Nikolas was about to say something, but thought better of it. "How about we agree to disagree on that point? So I suppose, Bobbie is still supporting her despite everything. But how did you, Luke and Emily get involved? As far as I knew, we all pretty much thought the same about her."

"Yeah, well things change, you know." Lucky opened his mouth, hesitating. "We . . . um, found out some stuff, old history."

Nickolas looked at him curiously, but Lucky shook his head in a clearly negative gesture, indicating that topic was closed for discussion.

"Sorry, I can't get into it, Nik. As far as the rest of Port Charles is concerned, Carly is a Spencer with all that entails, with the family firmly behind her, assuming she and my Dad can stop fighting for more than five seconds at a time. What happened with Tony is dead and forgotten now."

"And Emily?"

"She was there when it went down and after hearing Robin, AJ and Edward plotting to take away Michael when she knows . . . well, more about Carly. Now she's on the warpath too, already told Alexis that she wants to testify against them if it gets to that point." Lucky laughed, but there was little amusement to be heard.

"Em wants out of the manor and Monica and Alan, not to mention Edward, are up in arms about it. She trying to convince Jason to either get her emancipated or petition the court for custody, which considering that he and Carly might have to fight AJ for custody of Michael just makes life that much more complicated. Monica and Alan already want to bring me up on charges for anything and are threatening to have her shipped off to boarding school. So basically, my life is seriously sucking at the moment. How's it out there on Spook Island, 'cause I might have to hide out there for awhile if this shit keeps up."

Nikolas stared at him for a moment. "Complicated apparently isn't the word for it. I don't envy you. We really need to catch up more often." He shook his head. "Stefan is . . . Stefan, nothing new there. No, no that's not true, actually." Nikolas shrugged. "There is something going on, but as usual, I'll probably be the last to know. He's more on edge than usual than I've seen him since Helana left."

"What is she coming back?" Lucky raised an eyebrow in mock-horror that was less faked than not at the mere thought of the queen of the dead's return.

"Don't even joke about it. You think life is rough now? Who knows what havoc my grandmother would cause in Port Charles given the chance?" Nikolas gave a slight shudder at the thought. "As far as I know she securely exiled to the island and to remain there until her death."

"Knock on wood," Lucky joked, but it fell awkwardly short between the two brothers, each now lost in their own thoughts.

* * *

While Jason was off getting drinks, Carly racked the balls yet again. This was going to be their third game and she was determined to win this time. If it killed her, she was going to get him out onto the dance floor, even if she had to cheat. She had held off the impulse thus far, but fuck it. This was becoming ridiculous. She picks up the cube of chalk and idly polishes the end of her cue stick. 

"Typically Carly-babes . . . out drinking. Why am I not surprised? And where is my son? With the nanny?"

Carly stiffened, before she shook her head at Max walking towards her. She slowly turned around to face the mocking face of AJ.

"What I do in my spare time is none of your business. And as far my and _Jason's_ son is concerned . . . well, that's really none of your business either. Michael may be your nephew, unfortunately for him, but he's also lucky enough to have Jason as a father. So take your accusations and vodka," she smirked, nodding knowingly to the half-filled glass in front in his hand, "and go to hell."

"Ok, keep lying. The truth will come out soon enough in court. You don't really think any judge will let you keep the kid when they hear about how unstable you are, do you?" He laughed an ugly sound that seemed to overwhelm the usual music and noise of the bar. "Once my son is back where he belongs, you'll come crawling back on your knees soon enough."

Carly breathed in sharply, eyes narrowed as she glared at him vengefully. With a deft twist of her wrist the cue stick in her hand spun through the air only to be caught in its downward swing at the last moment.

"Settle down, Carly." Jason's low voice murmured in her ear as he plucked the stick out of her grasp, placing it across the table behind them. He moved next to her, even as Max and Johnny began crowding AJ, standing on either side of him.

"Don't you have anything better to do with your time, like an AA meeting, maybe?" The deceptively relaxed note in Jason's voice was belied by cold gleam of his eyes.

AJ flushed angrily, looking first at Jason, then at two guards now standing next to him, his eyes falling to see the outline of shoulder holsters on each one. "Yeah, yeah, live it up now Jason. We'll see who's laughing when I take Micheal back. Maybe Robin'll take you back, because we both know Carly won't stay without her brat. If I'm feeling particularly generous, I'll even send you an invite to the wedding, complete with an air-tight prenup, Carly." He refocused his attention back on her.

"Never gonna happen, _Junior_." She snarled, while Jason's arm slipped around her waist, anchoring her firmly against him.

"You want to live long to find out you're wrong? Don't threaten her, don't talk to her, don't even look at her." The temptation to give into his banked anger later, almost broke free before he could leash it back. Jason knew this wasn't the time and taking a deep breath, memorized this moment for later. AJ's time was growing shorter with every word out of his mouth.

"Is that a threat?" AJ demanded violently, his glass spilled over as he stepped forward only to be jerked to a stop on rough hand grabbing his arm. Behind him Johnny shook his head, a mockingly sad expression on his face as he shrugged, as if to say what can you do?

"I don't bother making threats. That was a warning and the last one you'll get." Studying AJ for a minute, the smaller man fidgeting under the intense scrutiny, Jason shook his head, scoffing. "Get him out of my sight. And while you're at it, maybe explain exactly why he should leave Carly alone since he's obviously too drunk or stupid to understand."

Nodding in acknowledgement, the two men took a hold of an arm and began hauling the drunken Quatermaine towards the door. AJ balked loudly at first, but after Johnny's free hand inched closer to his jacket, he bitterly complied, walking just fast enough not to attract attention, although still dragging his heels enough that they had to exert themselves. As they moved away, Jason could hear Johnny begin lecturing in an exaggeratedly slow voice. "Now you see . . . the thing is, we like Miss Spencer. Hell we don't even hold the fact that she slept with you against her and well . . . we get a little upset when someone disrespects her . . ." Until his voice faded away.

One corner of his mouth rose in amusement, before he turned back to Carly, still glaring off after them. She glanced up at him. "Don't say it. I know I should have kept calm, but he just _pisses_ me off so much . . . "

"Yeah, well. Forget about him. Except for Emily, that's pretty much the definition of a Quatermaine, isn't it?" His arm slipped behind her as he fingers began to lightly trace a meandering and barely there path along her spine.

Carly turned back to him, the militant glint in her eyes slipping away as a faint smile unwillingly curved her lips. "No, your sister drives me crazy in an entirely different way, trust me. Between ranting about the Q's even more than I do, trying to talk me into going into therapy, which I do _not_ need and sneaking more of her stuff into the spare bedroom when she thinks I'm not looking, I can't seem to get away from her unless she's with Lucky, which just goes and pisses you off."

"You noticed the backpack thing too?" He asked, his free hand brushing a tendril of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, well, I'm not blind or as oblivious as she seems to think. Are you going to call her on it?"

"No point to it." Jason shrugged. "You know that she'll either deny it or claim it's for when she stays over."

Carly arched an eyebrow skeptically. "And you know as well as I do that no one needs that much stuff for one or two nights."

"We'll deal that when we have to, unless you want to talk to her about it."

"Oh, hell no!" Carly shook her head vehemently. "You are not sticking me with that job. She's your sister, you deal with her. I do my best to avoid her like the plague and I have problems with that. I swear if she slips me just one more pamphlet, I'll scream."

Explaining that Em was just trying to help wasn't going to win him any points and he knew it. "Ok, I'll talk to her about it," Jason offered. "I think she discovered that she might even like you and when Emily likes people, well she this is what she does."

"And I appreciate it, I really do. She's not so bad once you get used to her, but she's really got to get off my back – between the two of you and Bobbie calling me, _every single day_, it's beginning to make me a little crazy. Even Lucky brought it up, although I know your sister was behind that one. I told all of you that I dealt with that shit years ago. Hell, it's almost makes me glad to see Luke, because at least _he_ doesn't mention it."

"Makes him good for something then."

"Now, I wouldn't go that far . . . " Carly laughed although to his ear, it sounded a little forced, more than ready to talk about anything else.

Pulling back from his almost embrace, she grabbed her cue stick. "It's still best out of five, so don't think you're going to get out this so easily."

Jason shrugged. Carly was back in avoidance mode, one he was becoming very familiar with, which led him to add credence to what Bobbie and Emily had both told him separately. Carly had always been unpredictable, but since that night at Luke's, she been unusually skittish when it came to anything remotely physical.

Even her game was off. Carly had never beat him yet, but she was missing shots that normally she should have made and he had to wonder if it was a subconscious thing. Just thinking about it made his head hurt, but since this was Carly, he couldn't afford to ignore it.

He made a mental note to read a few of the pamphlets scattered around the penthouse. Emily and Bobbie were wrong in trying to pressure Carly into seeing a shrink and he'd have to put a stop to it. Maybe she did need help, but he wasn't going to stand by and let anyone coerce or guilt her into doing anything she didn't want to. Jason remembered how it was when he was in the hospital and couldn't forget Carly's reaction to Ferncliffe. He'd have to find another way to deal with this.

Watching Carly fuss with the balls and the triangle, reinforced that idea. "Ok, you go ahead and break, but this time, we're renegotiating the bet."

Across the table, Carly eyed him suspiciously. "Oh yeah? What terms?"

He walked across the length of the table, removed the triangle, tossing it onto a nearby table. "Well, you said that you wanted to dance, so when I win that's exactly what we're going to are to do."

"Are we really? And if I win?" She sidled away from him to the far end of the table.

"Whatever you want. But, I'll let you pick the song when I win."

"Oh really?" Carly's eyes narrowed as she tried to read his expression. Jason freely offering to dance with her was unprecedented to say the least, which meant he was up to something, but the question was what did he have in mind? No way to learn unless she played, of course. "Fine. When I win, we go shopping for _you_."

Jason winced and she broke out in laughter, before taking her shot.

* * *

Next morning, Emily walked into the penthouse and almost turned on her heel and walked out. Carly and Micheal and apparently ganged on Jason in what appeared to be a food fight. 

"Ummm, I can come back in an hour or so, if you're busy."

Jason turned to face his sister, Carly waved to her and Michael not realizing the game was over promptly tossed a handful of cheerios into Jason's hair.

Laughing, Carly scolded Micheal in a voice that no one, not even the two year old could take seriously. "Oh no, Mister Man, game's over, baby," before she got up and brushed the bits of cereal out of Jason's hair. Standing over him, she received a surprise of her as his arm swept out, pulling her into his lap.

"I blame this all on you, you know, Carly." Jason shook his head, apparently serious although his smile showed his true mood.

"Hey, as far as I'm concerned," she playfully protested, squirming out of his hold, "you started it, man."

"How do you figure that?" He asked dryly watching move beyond his reach, slightly frustrated.

Carly unfastened Michael from his high chair and picked him up. "You shouldn't make fun of mommy. Isn't that right, baby?" She held Michael up, deftly avoiding his last handful of cereal that was slung in Jason's direction, with a child's gleeful laughter. "See, even Michael agrees."

Jason rolled his eyes as he stood up, sending cereal falling to the floor.

"Emmy . . . Emmy!" Micheal's arms reached out to his aunt, who he saw at the door."

"Yes, that's your Aunt Emily. But first we've got to get you cleaned up, Mister Man. We'll be back down in a bit, ok Em? " Carly looked over her shoulder as she began walking towards the stairs.

"Ok, I'll be here." Emily walked into the room and finding a relatively clean spot on the couch sat down to wait.

Glancing at her brother, she asked, "a food fight?"

"Yeah, well. They had fun."

"I'm sure." She smirked. "So what's going on?"

Jason shrugged. "Long story short. Carly won at pool last night, so we're going shopping for a few hours. It's Leticia's day off and since you seem to spend enough time here, I thought you might want to babysit for a few hours."

"Wait a sec . . . Carly beat _you_ at pool and now you have to watch her shop? How did that happen?"

He sighed. "No, she beat me and we have to go shopping. I think she's planning on buying me more suits."

"And I repeat - how did that happen?"

He shrugged again. "It did, end of story." There was a pause as he sat down to face her. "Em, I need you to back off a bit on the idea of Carly going to a shrink." His voice was lower than usual.

Looking back toward the stairs, Emily could hear splashing and Carly and Micheal's voices and leaned closer. "Jason, has she talked about it with you? If not and I'm guessing that she hasn't, she needs to talk to someone, preferably a professional."

"She doesn't want to and the more you push, the more she's is going to pull away. That's the just the way Carly is."

Glancing back to the stairs, her voice fell into a harsh whisper. "Jason, you're my brother and I love you, but you have no idea what you're talking about! Think it about it, ok? Carly was raped! I don't care what excuses she makes for that bastard that was a classic case of rape, if I ever heard one and believe me I have. Even worse, she hasn't dealt with it at _all_, you heard what she said, everyone blamed her for it and she blamed herself, she still does."

"Then she gets into town and what does she do? She gets involved with you – the whole no-name sex thing – that is _not_ normal behavior. Then there is Tony, another pseudo father figure, and the time she slept with AJ – she was drunk, just like when she fourteen. That's more than just a coincidence, Jason, it's a dangerous pattern! And . . . " Emily's voice drifted off. The tension between them grew tighter with every passing second and she forced herself to continue, "have you even considered that it might not have been the first time?"

"Do you honestly believe that you're saying anything I haven't already thought of . . . anything I haven't imagined?" He demanded, the caustic tone in his voice as flaying as a whip. "No matter what anyone says, I'm not stupid, Em. I haven't gone an hour without all of it going through my head since she told us, but there is nothing I can fucking do about it, until this custody thing is straightened out."

He got up at moment as smoothly and dangerously as a panther, days of repressed violence visible in every precise movement. "You're talking about the theoretical, I'm trying to deal with reality. Have you looked at Carly, I mean really looked at her. It's costing her everything just to keep it together and that kills me, but forcing her to talk about it . . . hell, forcing her to even think about it may bring everything crashing down."

"We might have to go to court, Emily, and Carly has to be able to handle that. What do you think is going to happen if she loses Michael now? I don't know if she'd survive that and I won't let anything jeopardize her life. I can't. Em . . . do you understand? You need to back off, otherwise you can't be here. Contrary to popular belief, I am not ignoring the situation, but this isn't the right time. You're trying to help, I know that, but whether you realize it or not, you're doing more harm than good. Please, Emily, I've never asked you for anything, but I am asking you to _please_ back off here. Can you do that or not?"

Somehow his voice changed from blatantly demanding to an impassioned pleading and for the first time she could remember since before the accident, she saw unabashed fear in his eyes. And she didn't know what disturbed her more – what he said or how he said it. Out of all them, her and Spencers, Jason knew Carly best and if he was openly displaying this level of fear . . . how could she deny him?

"Ok, Jason." She began slowly, choosing her words carefully. "I will back off, for now. And I'll tell Bobbie to do the same . . . but she is going to have to deal with this eventually and I still want to help. But I won't bring it up to Carly until you say it's ok, all right?"

He stared at her with considering look in his eye. "Good enough. I understand Spencer double speak as much as the next person. You've been hanging around Lucky too much, I won't forget that either, Em. Do what you're going to do, 'cause I know that you're going to do it anyway, but I don't want Carly anywhere near it. I'm serious, Emily, this is non-negotiable."

"I promise."

"Ok," he nodded in agreement, knowing that was the most he was going to get from her.

Just then Carly came back downstairs. Handing Michael off to Emily's waiting arms, she snagged Jason's hand, pulling him to his feet. "Ok, Emily you know where everything is, you have our numbers if anything goes wrong, not that it will, of course and we should be back in a few hours, ok?"

Emily laughed slightly, wondering if she took a breath in between all that. "Don't worry about us. Michael and I will be fine. You just go out and fun, dressing up my brother, ok?"

"He admitted that he lost?" Carly's smile widened as she lightly elbowed Jason in the ribs.

Jason rolled his eyes as they discussed him. "I'll just sit back time until you're ready."

"Oh, no. You are not getting out of this so easily." Carly smirked as she tightened her hold on him and began dragging towards the door.

* * *

Dragging himself into the park, wincing slightly at the bright sunlight, Lucky wished he brought some sunglasses. Going out plastered last night got him to sleep, but now he was paying the price. 

"A little hung-over are we?" Emily shook her head. "Serves you right. I told you to come over last night. But don't worry, I promise not to tell your mom." She smirked at him and he found his arms suddenly full of a squirming two year old.

"What?" Lucky's eyes opened wide . . . His head swung around and he repressed a groan in a mixture of both dismay and pain at the sudden movement. "What did you do, Em?"

She shrugged unapologetically. "I told you Michael had a play date, I just didn't mention that it was with Lulu and you never bothered to ask. Not my fault."

"Yeah . . . ok. I'm gonna remember this," he mumbled.

"Again, not my fault." Glancing at him out of the corner of her, she laughed taking some pity on best friend. "Look hold out for five minutes. I need to talk to your mom, so you get to baby-sit the kids and in Michael's bag," which she promptly handed off to him, "if you check the side pocket, you'll find a bottle of water and aspirin."

"You are a lifesaver." He leaned forward to press a thankful kiss on her forehead.

Emily smiled. "I know."

"So what do you want to talk to my mom about again?" He eyed her suspiciously. When she refused to answer, he juggled Michael in his arms to free one hand that reached out to tilt her face up to his . . . "Emmie, what are you up to?" At her continued silence, he sighed, prodding deeper. "This is about Carly isn't it?"

Her only response was to cross her arms firmly across her chest, ready for an argument.

"Dammit, Em." Lucky swore. "You know Jason said to let this go."

"And I promised not to bother Carly about it and I haven't." Look it's a simply question, Lucky. Do you trust me or not?" She demanded.

He stared at her hard. "Don't pull that card with me. This isn't a matter of whether I trust you or not, this isn't about me or us for that matter, remember?" He lifted his arms slightly, still holding Michael to further illustrate his point.

"And Michael is my nephew. I would _never_ do anything to jeopardize him and I cannot believe that you of all people would suggest something like that!"

"Fuck!" The profanity slipped out without so much as a thought and he quickly added, "but you didn't hear that, ok Michael?" Directing his attention back to Emily, he sighed. "This has all the potential to be a disaster, you know, right?"

"I know that and I promised to back off, not let go," she finally answered, hoping it didn't sound as belligerent to him as it did to her. "We've talked about this. Jason, Carly, your dad and Bobbie are all focused on Michael as they should be. Believe me when I say that better than anyone else, I know the perils of growing up with the Quatermaines, but what about Carly? She is in complete denial and the only one who gets that is Jason and you know how he feels about doctors. He doesn't even want to consider it."

"Has it occurred to you that maybe he's right?" Lucky shrugged. "I mean this happened, what six, seven years ago?"

"And if I ask your mother if she'd over what happened with Stavros, what do you think she'd say?" Emily held her breath as he glared at her, flatly.

He took a deep breath, before breaking eye contact. "Low blow there, Em, but I get your point. What I don't understand is why this is so damn important to you. Carly's my cousin, your brother's . . . whatever it is they've got going and your nephew's mother, but other than that you've got no ties to her. So why can't you let this drop?" His voice still held a slight edge, but it smoothed out, letting her know that he forgave her.

"Come on, Lucky, you know that it had to have traumatized her. . . "

"Oh, I'm sure it did, but that's still bullsh –" He glanced down at Michael playing with a toy, "umm bs and doesn't explain your sudden hung up on it."

Emily sighed. She hadn't planned on getting into this, but he wasn't giving her much of a choice. "Ok, fine. Look, I hated Carly with a passion that wouldn't quit, even before I met her. I listened to what everyone said and decided that she was an insane bi-" He eyes landed on Michael "ummm, witch. Then there was at Luke's and I felt guilty as hell, I still didn't know Carly or understand her but I felt sorry for her, compassionate, you know. She suddenly became a real person instead of this woman who was destroying my brother. I wanted to help for no other reason than that. Even if I hated her, I'd still want to help just on the principle of it."

"But, you know I've spent time with her, Lucky. I mean, last month if you had told me that I'd be able to spend an hour with Carly and we wouldn't be ay each other's throats, I would've called you a liar. But I have. We're not best friends or anything, but . . . I kinda like her. She's good with Michael, she'd smart, funny as hell and have you seen her with Jason? I love my brother, Lucky, I really do, but I know who he's become – what he is and what he does. That's not an easy thing for anyone to accept, never mind love, but she does and when they're together." She shook her head, seemingly at a loss of words. "When they're together . . . I see this different side of him that no one else brings out except for Carly and Michael. Once this custody thing is thrown out, I know they're going to be together, but I want them to be happy and for that to happen, I really believe that Carly needs help. And this can be my little contribution, since no one will let me do anything else."

Lucky listened patiently, resisting the impulse to wince. There was no point in reminding her that she had broke the news of Edward and AJ's plans, when she obviously was in no mood to listen. He also had a feeling that he knew where this was going, but went ahead and asked the question anyway. "And my mother?"

"When I worked on the teen hotline and heard stories like this they were always sent onto a psychologist. Well, Carly refuses to see one and it's not like I could casually drop by Kevin Collins office or something without somebody noticing and setting off all sorts of alarms. But your mom, she's gone through it, she's a social worker and best of all, no one is going to be at all suspicious if they see me talking to her – not my family or yours. It's perfect!"

This could not possibly turn out well, but other than gagging and hog-tying her, which he didn't think Jason would appreciate much not to mention what Emily would do to him afterwards, Lucky couldn't see a way out. If he didn't let this slide, who knows what she'd try next time.

"Ok, I'm telling you right now that I do not like this, but since I doubt you're going to listen to me I'm just going to ask you to, please, please be careful. My parents aren't talking to each other at the moment, so chances are you're safe, but Em, you have got to make sure that you change the details, tell her the bare minimum, make sure that she doesn't have a clue who you're talking about and whatever you do, you've get her to promise not to say a word to anyone, because that would blow this completely out of the water, ok?"

Emily smiled as Laura approached with Lulu in tow. He waved to his mom as Lulu toddled over to him, arms wrapping around his knee Michael began stretching his arms down, so Lucky bent down to pick up his sister as well. Emily ordered him to take the kids down to the pond to feed the ducks and he watched them walk off, shaking his head.

Yeah, no doubt about it, he was definitely a sucker.

TBC

Well, I've some reviews & I love them dearly, lol. anyone else out there want to say something . . . anything . . . not too much J/C fluff in this chapter but I'm setting up a few critical plot points for future events. This story is on the brink of going **very** AU, but I can't say anything more for fear of ruining the suprise, but you can feel free to guess. Poor Carly, things are going to get a lot more complicated & interesting pretty soon. I've got lots of ideas for this story so if you've gotten this far, leave me a review. It's good karma, you know :D


	7. A Little Push

AN - some explanation is needed. This is set in the past, I'm thinking 98-99. definitely before the Sonny/Carly hate sex, a little AU (I've cobbled together both Carly new (the incident with the 'real' Carly's dad and the old (i.e. Virginia) pasts - as best as I could remember) and it's sort of Jason/Carly - my first, last & always OTP (one true pairing), but only slightly.

* * *

Chapter 7 – A Little Push

Sitting on a park bench, the two women watched Lucky playing with the children, after a moment, Laura broke the silence.

"I'm not sure what you expect me to say. I'm not a psychologist, I took some classes, but I'm by no means an expert." When Emily opened her mouth to reply, Laura held up a hand and continued. "In my personal and professional opinion, you need to advise Carly to seek a licensed, professional's help."

At Emily's look of surprise, Laura laughed softly.

"No, no this isn't about Carly – "

Laura raised an eyebrow in reproof and the younger woman fell quiet.

"Despite what my son and his father may believe, I am not oblivious. To tell you the truth, I've always suspected that Carly has had a history of mental problems. I'd even said as much to both her mother and Luke. Bobbie certainly didn't want to hear it, and Luke . . . my ex-husband has always maintained a certain degree of affection for the girl and would prefer to see her as more of a bad seed than troubled. It's the Spencer party line, if you haven't noticed it yet, then just wait."

"Con artist, troublemaker, borderline criminal are all labels that most of them will gladly embrace – Luke, Carly, Ruby and Bobbie in their younger years and even Lucky. However mention consulting a therapist, psychologist or worse psychiatrist and there is zero tolerance. Collectively or single handedly, they will shut you down so fast that your head will spin. It's practically a taboo with them."

Laura sighed, remembering years of history. "Good luck, you've set a difficult task for yourself."

"You won't help?" Emily's face fell.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid not. I don't have the credentials to help her, nor do I have any desire to get caught up once again into Spencer drama. I can't do it, I won't." She turned to Emily. "You have to understand that I spent the last twenty something years of my life caught up in one scheme or another and now, I'm finally out. I love my son and I'll always love Luke, but I have Lulu to worry about now and if I let myself get drawn back in . . . "

Laura shook her head. "You don't know what you're asking me. Lucky is your friend now, but can you imagine being with him even ten years from now? And now you're getting involved in Carly Spencer's drama, complete with the mob influence. I know Jason is your brother, but still . . . I say this with the utmost respect for you, but you are asking for trouble, Emily. I'm not going to tell you to walk away, I know you won't, god knows I wouldn't have listened when I first met Luke, but you just don't know what you're getting yourself into."

Listening to her, Emily found herself unconsciously leaning farther away, a growing sense of outrage mixing with an angered disgust. This was Lucky's mother and she respected her for that fact alone, but who the hell did she think she was passing such blanket judgments? Lucky was right, talking to Laura was a bad idea, but now that she had started this, she couldn't just walk away. If Laura told the wrong people, it would be absolutely disastrous.

"Ummm, I appreciate what you're saying. Personally, I disagree, but hey, I'm just a kid, what do I know?" The hint of sarcasm in her voice was stupid, she knew that as soon as she said and when Laura's eyes narrowed slightly, she mentally cursed herself. "Carly isn't so bad when you get to know her and despite everything going on, she's doing well. Maybe, I'm just overreacting, you know? Ummm, I do need to ask you to just keep this between us, sort of like the patient-doctor confidentiality that we agreed on in the beginning, you know?"

Emily's heart sank when she saw that familiar repressive and patronizing expression on Laura's face that so reminiscent of Monica and Edward and she knew that she had made a terrible mistake.

"I don't think that I can keep that promise, Emily. I've lived that life before, not exactly like Carly's, of course," she laughed sadly but with enough smugness to grate on Emily's nerves, "but enough to know the pressures of it and after all, look at how Lucky turned out."

A sharply drawn inhale was Emily's only visible response. Under other circumstances, she would have reacted much more violently, but was just able to stifle herself. "You never would have known if I hadn't betrayed her trust and Carly's past is just that the _past_, it has nothing to do with her being a mother."

"It goes to evaluating her mental state and ability to be a good mother. As a social worker, ethically I am duty bound to report this information to the court." Laura's shrug struck Emily as an empty gesture, a passing off of responsibility that pissed her off even more.

"Can you give me some time to warn Carly, a week at least?" _Please, please, please _ran through Emily's mind as she pasted a concerned yet contrite expression that she had mastered over years spent with the Q's on her face.

Laura's stern expression seemingly melted away. "That I can do, for _you_ Emily, but afterwards, all bets are off." She warned in what Emily guessed was supposed to be a motherly tone. "Listen, I need to run a few errands, on your way back from the park can you and Lucky drop Lulu off at my mothers?"

The younger woman scarcely had time to agree or not, before Laura rushed out of sight. Her head fell and she ran a hand through hair.

"Shit"

* * *

From behind the slide, Lucky kept one eye on his cousin and little sister and the other focused on his mother and girlfriend. That ugly feeling he had only grew the longer they talked and even from away as far as he was standing, he could see Emily's growing agitation. This was not good . . .

By the time, she reached him he had his phone in hand.

"What happened?"

Emily winced under the impact of his demand. "You were right; I shouldn't have said a word to her."

"Oh, fuck!" Lucky broke free from her eyes to stare blankly past her shoulder. "How bad are we talking about here?" His voice had changed into a hollow and distant one that hurt worse than his earlier anger.

"I never mentioned Carly's name, but she guessed and now feels "duty bound" to make it public when AJ takes this to court. She promised she would wait a week, but no longer and I had to beg her for that much. . ." Not to mention what she said about you, but Emily had no intention of repeating that to Lucky on top of everything else.

"Sonovabitch!" Lucky abruptly turned and viciously kicked the metal ladder of the slide, the impact reverberating loudly.

She flinched.

"I'm so sorry, Lucky. I didn't expect her to react that way." In retrospect, the words sounded so weak, but she didn't know what else to offer. Emily reached out one tentative hand to touch his shoulder, steeling herself when he moved just before she could make contact.

"It's not your fault." He said finally, still not looking at her. "I knew what you were planning and I didn't stop you. Some part of me, hoped that you were right, that maybe she could help. I should've known better. This isn't really on you." Lucky paused again. "I need to call my dad and give him the heads-up on this, ok? I'll be right back."

Feeling helpless, Emily watched him walked away.

"Emmy . . . Emmy . . ." A little voice and a tugging on her jeans caught her attention.

"What's up Michael?" She bent down to his level, Lesley Lu on her other side and looked over to where a pudgy finger pointed and saw Nikolas and Robin and she groaned. That was really all she today needed. Standing as they approached, she glanced over her shoulder to see Lucky on his way back and silently thanked god. She wasn't in the mood to deal with this with two toddlers watching her every move.

Lulu wobbled over to Nikolas, chattering excitedly about spending the day with her cousin Mikey, while Michael carefully moved behind Emily's leg as if trying to hide from Robin.

"Oh Emily . . . reduced to baby-sitting already? You see, Nikolas, this is _exactly_ what I was talking about. It's a shame, really. Some people shouldn't be allowed to have children, but that should be resolved soon enough."

Robin shook her head sadly and Emily's eyes narrowed.

"You're not a mother, so you wouldn't understand, but having been Michael's mother while the psycho was locked up in Ferncliffe, no offense Lucky, of course, it is unconscionable."

"Watch it, Scorpio that's my cousin and Michael's _real_ mother, you're talking about." Lucky spat out with a tauntingly hard edge to his voice that had an uncomfortable Nikolas taking a hesitant half-step forward.

Lucky was about to do the same, when Emily lightly rested her hand on his arm, shaking her head slightly. She couldn't slap Lucky's mother, for obvious reasons, but she had no such compunctions whatsoever when it came to this bitch.

"Lucky, do me a favor. Lulu and Michael wanted to play on the swings, but I'm a little too tired to push, will you do it?"

Her sickeningly sweet tone was his tip-off that she was spoiling for a fight and despite the riot act that he'd just been read over the phone, he figured a few minutes wasn't going to hurt. "Sure," he answered carefully. "Just remember, we're almost running late," he warned.

"Oh, don't worry. This won't take too long at all." She smiled at him and his eyes widened, even as he took both children in hand. Once they were out of range, Emily spun on her heel.

"See, you wouldn't be tired if you were back home with your family, where you belonged, doing the sorts of things teenagers should be doing. When I was Michael's mother, I would have never – "

"When you were Michael's mother?" Emily stared at her in complete amazement for a moment, before choking back startled laughter. "Oh my god, you really are delusional, aren't you? I mean, sure, Carly told me, and I always knew that you were a bit neurotic, but come on . . . Then again, I guess it makes sense, considering that you were able to rationalize testifying on behalf of kidnapper."

Looking at the woman next to him, the girl he'd had a crush on for what seemed like forever and over to his friend, who also happened to be his brother's girlfriend and felt the pull of conflicting loyalties. "Emily . . . "

She looked up at him and seeing the dilemma in his eyes, decided to let him off the hook. "Nikolas, you're my friend and I love you, but you need to stay out of this one," before turning her attention back to Robin. "And you need to stay away from me, Michael, my brother and Carly. Luckily for you, I've got somewhere that I've got to be, otherwise . . . " She left her threat dangling. "I'll talk to you later, Nik," Emily smiled slightly at him before she turned away to find Lucky and the kids.

"Do you believe that girl? She is just running absolutely wild; I am going to have to talk to Monica. She was talking about sending her off to boarding school and under the circumstances; it might not be a bad idea. I mean, did you _hear_ how she spoke to me?" Robin shook her head, wrapping her arm around Nikolas's.

Watching Emily walk off, Robin's words took a moment to register and when they did, he pulled his arm and turned to face her. "What about was that about Emily?"

"Bordering school. I think I could suggest a few strict ones for Monica to consider."

"Robin, that wasn't Emily's fault, _you_ provoked her." Nikolas frowned at her, his eyebrows drawing together.

"No, no, no. Nikolas, you don't understand. Emily is spending most of time hanging out with Lucky, Jason and Carly. Obviously they are unduly influencing her behavior." Robin shrugged her shoulders.

He closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Robin, I have to get back to the hospital. I'll see you . . . later, ok?" He put his hands up in a gesture of surrender, before backing away. As he turned around to walk away, all he could think of was his conversation yesterday with Lucky and Robin's hour long tirade on Carly. Whatever was going on, he decided to take Emily up on her suggestion and stay out of it.

* * *

Getting off the phone, Jason wanted to punch a wall or two. Emily had opened her mouth to Laura of all people. Yeah, ok, so she was sorry about it and Lucky was quick to shift the blame onto himself, but Jason knew the score. He loved his sister, but goddammit!

He shook his head wearily.

Emily was sorry, he got that. Between Luke raking her over the coals and his unspoken anger, he knew she was sorry, but that didn't help now. All he could do was damage control and he'd have to work fast, one week was a short window . . . too short, really, but it was all he had to work with. And he'd already down what he could.

The appointment for the DNA test was made, all they had to do was show up at the hospital in the morning, and their lab technician knew what results test had better reveal. Alexis had set up a meeting with AJ and his lawyer for later on tomorrow – hopefully the arson evidence combined with the ridiculous sum of money he'd spent acquiring a significant portion of ELQ would be enough to convince his brother that it was in his best interests to let this go for now. And once he'd had the test results in hand, they'd be safer. It wasn't going to be as final as a court decree, but it would buy some time until he could lock up the matter of Michael's paternity beyond the long reach of the Quatermaines.

The only thing left was to break the news to Carly, which he absolutely refused to let Luke, Emily or even Lucky anywhere near, despite their protests. Something he definitely wasn't looking forward to, but it had to be done. Jason took a deep breath, before he slowly began walking upstairs.

When he got to the landing, he heard Carly's voice and followed it into Michael's bedroom.

"I think he's asleep now." Jason's voice was low enough not to startle her or to wake the sleeping child.

A small smile broke out across her face, as she looked up, placing the book on the nearby table. "Yeah, finishing it was more for me than him anyway, seeing that you were still busy with work." Her smile faded away as she looked at him more closely. "And now, you've got bad news, don't you?"

He shrugged as she stood up.

"Great, now what?" she asked, walking past him into her room.

Jason quietly shut the door behind him, before following her.

"So what it is? No, actually, lemme guess . . . an asteroid crashing down to earth with my name on it? Tony's lurking outside? Robin get Sonny to put out a hit on me? What happened now?" Carly's hands waved in erratically wild gestures as she spoke.

Jason wanted to walk up to her and gather her in his arms, but knew that in this mood, she'd only reject him. There was nothing he could do that let her get it out.

She turned to him – checks pale, arms wrapped defensively around her stomach, a brighter than normal gleam in her eyes. "Just tell me, Jason, just fucking tell me! "

"Fine. Emily told Laura everything about what happened when you fourteen," he answered tightly, waiting for the fallout.

He didn't have long to wait.

Carly flinched as if he'd hit her. Her arms fell to the side as she fell to sit on the bed. "Well, that was . . . _brutal_. She sounded numb and out of focus." I mean don't sugarcoat it or anything there. So dear old ex-aunt Laura . . . " She shook her head in disbelief.

"Is she over at the Quatermaines already, helping to douse the torches in gasoline for the witch-hunt later tonight?" She laughed slightly, gasping for air. "Or did they just decide on an old fashioned burning at the stake?"

Leaning against the wall, Jason could only watch. He knew what Carly was doing, he'd seen this countless times before, but until she had worked this through, she wouldn't let it go. Better to let her vent it aloud than to play catch up later, guessing what was in her head and trying to anticipate how she'd react.

"I mean, I figured with my luck that it was going to get out eventually. This is fucking Port Charles, after all. No secret stays one for long in this damn town, especially not mine, but I was hoping for more time. Just a little bit. I mean is that really so much to ask for?" Her voice took on a tired, almost little girl like tone that made something in his chest ache.

"Carly . . . it's not that bad." He began, walking slowly towards her as if he were approaching an injured, wild creature ready to take flight at the merest hint of a threat.

"Not that bad!" Her voice rose, a thin and high note that made him wince, hearing the fear and panic behind it. "How long is it going to take Miss Perfect to tell everyone in town? She hates me, Jason. I've never even said or did anything to her and she still hates me. You know that she's over at Quatermaines right now!"

He continued to cautiously move closer, his voice as soothing as he could manage at the moment, in contrast her rising anxiety. "No, she's not the guards watching at the Q's would have told me. We've got time. Emily managed to convince her to wait a week before saying anything to anyone. Tomorrow, we'll go down to GH and take the DNA test that will prove I'm Michael's father, then we have a meeting with AJ that should put a stop to his case. I promised you I wouldn't let him take Michael and I won't. Laura knowing is bad, I know, but it is _not_ disastrous."

"And so what if she hates you? Who the fuck cares? She hates me and she probably hates Luke too. And it's not like you're friends with her, anyway. Fuck her, she is nothing to us and she has no power over us."

"Are you sure?" She asked, looking down at the floor. "I mean absolutely sure?"

Reaching the bed, he slowly sat down next to her, watching her carefully. "Carly, I never have and never will lie to you. Never." He tilted her head to face him, one thumb reaching out to brush away a stray tear.

Carly nodded at him seriously, before leaning her head against his shoulder. "Okay." He sighed, feeling her warmth against him as one hand slipped around her side, pulling her closer to him.

After a few minutes, she sat up and leaned back against the pillows to the side, pulling Jason along with her, so they both lay together on the bed. One hand drifted across his chest as they relaxed in the silence.

* * *

Walking through the halls of General Hospital, Laura felt ill at ease, especially when she saw Bobbie at the nurse's station and later when she passed Monica and Alan talking quietly between the two of them. While one part of her wished she could erase Emily's request from her mind, at the same time she was tempted to divulge what she knew to someone. It was a terrible impulse she knew, but one she couldn't quite quash either. If she were Catholic, she would have fled directly to the nearest confessional, but, of course, she wasn't

Carly Spencer . . . not exactly the bane of her existence, but closely related enough that she had might as well be. In the back of her mind, she remembered when that terror first came to town. From the first moment, Laura, decided that she hadn't liked her. Oh she never said anything to anyone, of course, but something about that girl – her personality, manner or maybe it was that eternally flippant attitude, that just put up her back.

It was just all too familiar and not just from Luke either.

Learning about her former niece's childhood did little to change her view. And maybe it was horrible to admit, but she firmly believed that bad things happen to some people because subconsciously, they asked for it. Considering what she knew of Carly's behavior, drinking wine with an older man was practically an invitation for trouble. Then, of course, there was Michael and the Quartermaines to consider, Jason Morgan was little more than an afterthought. What did a brain-damaged mob enforcer know about or would even want a child?

Bobbie would be disappointed, of course, but some things just couldn't be helped. In time, she might even come to understand, because she was letting her guilt get the better of her, Laura was sure. The Quatermaines, for the most part, were reasonable people and considering the decades long friendship between Bobbie and Monica, she was sure they would eventually come to an agreement over limited visitation. Besides, considering Bobbie's life, it might be for the best. After all, no one in their right mind would believe that Carly Spenser was a fit mother.

The insidious thought that this information might be an opportunity to settle some old grudges, honestly never crossed her conscious mind, well . . . at least not that Laura Spencer, _nee_ Webber, ever admit to, anyway.

Glancing down at her beeper, quietly making its presence known, she saw recognized the number as Luke's and shaking her head ruefully, turned abruptly. She found herself standing in front of a closed door and slipping her beeper still unanswered back into her pocket, pushed open the door.

"I have to tell someone and since I promised not to tell the person who needs to know, I couldn't think of anyone who'd play devil's advocate best," the words spilled free, like water cascading free over the lip of a dam.

Giving her a faintly ironic gesture, Stefan raised one eyebrow, before granting her entrance with an elegant nod and with a secret smile, Laura looked back into the empty hallway, before closing the door behind her.

* * *

"So Emily, huh? That I did not expect. I mean Luke maybe, but Em? Didn't see that one coming."

Despite what she said, he heard the insecurity buried beneath the subtext.

"Yeah, Luke wanted to be the one who told you, but then it would have turned into this big thing," when he heard her chuckle, he smiled slightly, picking up a strand to play with, "which you might have enjoyed, but would have been counterproductive, at best." The low familiar rumble of his chest had a calming effect on her, as she moved her head to rest just above his heart.

"You just know me too well." Her voice had normalized and for the first time that day, she felt like things might actually work out. "I hope he wasn't too rough on her. She just a kid and kids make stupid mistakes, believe me, I know."

Jason laughed slightly. "Between her and Lucky fighting to take the blame, I think he went off a little more on Lucky, but," he shrugged underneath her, "now they know what did and the possible repercussions. A little reinforcement never hurt anyone, besides far as I'm concerned they got off lighter than if I had been there."

"Right . . . So then my cousin would've gotten all the blame." She laughed with him for a bit, before asking in a more somber tone. "She meant well, right? I mean . . . she really didn't mean to . . . "

"No, no, no." Jason wrapped his arms tightly around Carly, dropping a kiss on her head. "It was nothing like that. Em just has this idea in her head and can't let it go despite the fact that I told her to and well, she thought that Laura could help. That's all, I _swear_. You can ask her yourself, I'm sure she'll around tomorrow to apologize."

Jason felt her sigh and took a deep breath himself.

"She thinks I need to see a head shrink." Carly's voice grew quiet enough that he had to strain to hear. "And you Jason? Do you think I'm crazy too?" Her fingers dug into his shirt, tightening into a fist.

"No crazier than usual, I guess." His lips curved into a smile as one hand reached over to cup around hers, taking the sting out of his words. "You're not crazy, Carly. Not now, not even when you were living with the crazies at Ferncliffe and no one, not me or even Emily believes that you are. She just thinks that you need to talk about what happened that's what happens when you live in a house full of doctors, I guess. Personally, I don't think talking is necessarily a bad idea either, but unlike my sister, I think it's your call. And no, I don't think it has to be with a shrink. I know you, Carly, when you're ready, I'm going to be right here to listen."

She propped up on an elbow, rolling over slightly to face him. "Don't tell me that it doesn't bother you, Jase. Not even you're that good of a liar."

"Of course it bothers me, Carly." His hand slide down to wrap around her wrist, raising her hand to his lips before he continued. "Someone took advantage of you, hurt you and there's not much I can do about it. If he was still alive, I'd be able to track him down and make him pay. You have no idea how satisfying that would be for me, but I can't and I didn't know you all those years ago to have stopped him. I'm used to fixing or preventing things from happening to you and I can't fix this."

"But what happened _wasn't_ your fault and, yeah, I know that you don't believe me yet, but you will, Carly. Before this is over, if nothing else, you will believe it and if I have to tell you that everyday for the rest of your life, then I will. It's as simple as that"

She shook her head, breaking eye contact with him. "And just because you say so, it suddenly becomes the truth? Neat trick there, Jase."

"Nope." He tilted her face up to him. "No tricks, no lies. Not between us. Not now, not ever. The first promise, I ever made, remember?"

"And no names?" A smile crossed her face. "Things have changed a lot since Jake's and your old room, Jason. Robin, Tony . . . Michael. We're not the same people who made that promise."

"Maybe, maybe not." He shrugged carelessly, the intricacies lost upon him. "I don't think we've changed that much and what we promised then, as far as I'm concerned, still stands now."

Her smile widened. "Sometimes, Jason Morgan, you really do amaze me."

"Really? I'm not sure what's more disturbing that it takes so little to make you smile or that it took me so long to figure it out." He mused aloud, one eyebrow arched.

Carly's mouth fell open in shock for a moment. She rose up to her knees, yanking the pillow out from under his head and smacking him in the face with it, before he could so much as react.

Eyes closed, Jason lay there for a moment. "You're going to regret that, you know this, right?"

"Oh please, bring it on," she laughed, inching backward on the bed, pillow still in hand. "I've got you _so_ beat, it's not even funny."

Bracing on his hands now lying flat against the bed, carefully placed out of her sight, Jason opened his eyes and launched himself seamlessly forward into motion. One hand snatched the pillow out of her grasp, while the other swept around to rest in the small of her back, pulling her back from the perilously close edge of the bed. Twisting in mid-air, Carly landed on her back beneath him, even as he braced himself on his elbows to avoid crushing her with his weight, even as he held her down by her wrists.

"Now what was it you were saying?" He looked down at her, a smirk on his face.

Pulling up one leg, outside of his, she tried to buck him and failing out, stuck her tongue out at him.

"Fine, Jase, you win, but since you cheated, it's actually a forfeit."

"Cheated? How?"

Carly rolled her eyes, trying to ignore how close he was to her. "It was a pillow fight; you're supposed to fight with pillows, thus the name pillow fight. Tackling your opponent is against the rules."

"Right . . . 'cause you never play by the rules," he scoffed, leaning a little closer and molding his body against hers.

"Irrelevant. What I or do not do, isn't the point." She snapped back at him, still attempting to squirm out from under him.

The space between their bodies lessened as he rested his lower body more securely on hers. "Oh . . . I'm sorry, there's a point somewhere in this?"

"Ummm, yeah," she drew the word out in a breathy voice.

"And that would be . . . what, exactly?" His huskier than usual voice sent shivers down her spine.

Carly was having trouble trying to keep focused on the conversation and not the way, he was staring at her lips. "Namely that you cheated and broke the rules."

"Broke the rules, huh? Might as well break them some more then, I guess," although quiet, his voice lost none of its intensity.

Staring up at him, her tongue unconsciously slipped out to wet her lips, his eyes followed intently.

"What do you mean by th-"

The rest of her words were swallowed by his mouth. Brushing his lips delicately against hers, Jason took advantage of the moment in an impossibly deep kiss. Carly stared into his eyes, almost in disbelief, before they fell shut as she gave herself up to the moment and angled her head for better access. She was tired of fighting against what she wanted so badly and when it came to _him_, her self control always sucked anyway.

And that was the last coherent thought she had for awhile.

* * *

"I don't care to what lengths you must go to. Find out where my mother is and send me regular updates on her travels or Interpol and the WSB will be the _least_ of your concerns!" Stefan's eyes narrowed fractionally as he stared in frustration at the open box in front on him.

"No, Mr. Williams, double cross me and you will learn at your own peril that Helena is not the Cassandine that you should fear!" He slammed the phone down, unsatisfied and unusually restless. From within the extravagantly wrapped box, he pulled out a single Cuban cigar, with a pink ribbon tightly knotted around it in a double noose.

Whatever intrigue his mother was plotting it could only bode ill. Although for the life of him, he did not understand the symbolism behind this 'gift,' he clearly recognized the threat it represented.

Helena Cassadine had made her first move, the board was now his, and he needed to discover her end goal.

TBC

Well, I've some dedicated reviewers & I love them dearly, lol. anyone else out there want to say something . . . anything . . . This story is on the brink of going **very** **AU**, but I can't say anything more for fear of ruining the surprise, but feel free to guess (although I'm sure it must be making a little more sense now, lol).

_A few plot points_ - Some people may see Laura as being OC. shrugs I missed out on much of early 80's LukexLaura epic & never paid her much attention until the Deception sl came around, needless to say, she didn't endear herself to me there. I pretty much see her as being vapid and self-indulgent, you may disagree. I always saw tension between her & Bobbie, her & Carly, of course and I hated the way she treated Nikolas, Lucky and Luke, when the news of Nikolas's maternity/paternity was revealed. Also in this story Nikolas is Stefan's son, period. Starvos existed, obviously, but he is not the father although Nikolas was led to believe this until very recently.

The kiss wasn't what I had hoped for, but after two days of rewriting it, I'm done. The next lemon scene will be better, I promise, lol.

Poor Carly, things are going to get a lot more complicated & interesting pretty soon. I've got lots of ideas for this story so if you've gotten this far, leave me a review. It's good karma, you know :D


	8. Blindly Stumbling

AN - some explanation is needed. This is set in the past, I'm thinking 98-99. definitely before the Sonny/Carly hate sex, a little AU (I've cobbled together both Carly new (the incident with the 'real' Carly's dad and the old (i.e. Virginia) pasts - as best as I could remember) and it's sort of Jason/Carly - my first, last & always OTP (one true pairing), but only slightly.

Chapter 8 – Blindly Stumbling

Stefan Cassadine was not a particularly happy camper. Between hours spent racking up countless charges of international phone calls and usually devoting most the very early morning practicing Tai-Chi, his stress levels were nonetheless through the roof. Not to mention the burdens of his many other responsibilities – listening to Laura's malicious gossip, he was unable to explain why he thought they could ever again be anything between them, Nikolas who was still obviously upset and avoiding him, he still had to come to General Hospital to fulfill his duties there. His life was quickly degenerating into a series of increasingly complicated problems and on top of everything else the threat of his mother was looming over head.

As he walked towards the nurse's station to drop off some paperwork, he made a mental note to invest in a pharmaceutical company, Bayer, perhaps? The way things were going, he had a feeling that he'd be availing himself to some of their products very soon to alleviate the migraines, contemplating his life was giving him. As he approached, he noticed that he wasn't the only visitor waiting. Off to the side, he saw Caroline Spenser, her child and the supposed father, Jason Morgan in a hushed although apparently heated discussion with his one-time ex-wife, Bobbie.

He stopped to watch them, remembering what he had learned from Laura. He had his issues with the Spencers or more to the point, they had their issues with _him_, but he couldn't quite stomach playing Laura's lackey on this point. He had no illusions as to why she had come to him with that particular bit of information.

Stefan had no doubt that the Quatermaines would take the news of such a horror and use it against the girl in a way that was nothing less than contemptible, a tactic that he was all familiar with from Helena. And if Laura choose to avenge herself against Luke by using his niece, the repercussions from both her sons would likely be significant. Lucky, because apparently he and the other Spencers had seemingly allied themselves with Caroline and although Nikolas could care less about his almost cousin, the prospect of stealing a child from his mother would be a painful reminder of his own past.

Laura was many things, including smart enough to be hesitant about coming forward on her own, but apparently thought he'd be the perfect dupe. However, in this case, he grimly determined that she had seriously miscalculated. He had more than seen through her petty manipulations and while he might have to suffer for a time, playing Helena's game, there was no inducement strong enough to lure him into his former love's simplistic attempt of a power play.

The years had changed her to stoop to something as low as this, to someone that to his knowledge had done nothing to deserve such virulent disdain. Whatever her motivations were, it made no difference to him, not only would he not help her, he was almost tempted to take action against Laura. In retrospect, she had turned into a bitter woman whom he scarcely recognized.

His attention refocused on the trio, when Caroline and Morgan, turned to walk off, leaving Bobbie still upset, watching them. He caught Caroline's eyes and nodded his head slightly in her direction. A faint smile crossed his lips as her eyes dramatically widened in surprise, before tightening her hold on Morgan's arm and practically dragging him off as she fiercely whispered in his ear.

Bobbie disappointedly shook her head and on an almost spontaneous whim, Stefan walked up behind her.

"Problems with the prodigal daughter?" He asked, his low and melodious accent catching her by surprise.

Bobbie spun around, eying him warily. "_My_ daughter is none of _your_ business, Stefan."

The hint of a smile on his face broadened sardonically. "Can't one inquire of his former step-daughter without incurring this hostility?"

She rolled her eyes. "As you so kindly have reminded me, we were married and I know you well enough to know that you never just 'inquire' without a reason. So why don't you knock it off and tell me what you want?"

"Why do assume that I want something?"

"You're a Cassadine," she shrugged as it was self-explanatory, when he just waited, she sighed in exasperation. "You people, with the notable exception of Nikolas, never deign to speak to us commoners without a damn good reason. As if that wasn't enough, our divorce wasn't exactly what'd you call amicably."

"Careful, Barbara, you're starting to sound like your brother." Stefan shook his head in mock sadness. "And after all we went through; you can dismiss it so quickly. I was merely expressing concern for your daughter."

Her eyes narrowed. "Yes, my daughter, Carly. Who you didn't even know was my daughter when we were married, who you've never even spoken to. Is it any wonder that I'm 'hostile'?"

"On the contrary, I've always known that young Caroline was your daughter, well at least since you agreed to marry me."

Bobbie went pale at that. "Wh-what?"

"Naturally, before the ceremony, I had you thoroughly investigated, although," and he frowned slightly, not as thoroughly as I had anticipated, considering what Laura told me yesterday."

"You had me investigated?" Bobbie hoped that she didn't sound as panicked as she felt.

"Of course." Stefan's frown grew darker. For some unknown reason, his ex-wife was more focused on the idea that he had her investigated, rather than about Laura. Perhaps, she didn't know, but given the antagonistic relationship between the two, she should have leapt upon hearing her ex-sister-in-law's name. The fact that she hadn't even mentioned it thoroughly aroused his suspicions. There was more going on here than he understood.

There was a considering and almost calculating expression in his eyes that made her stomach drop. Oh God, he knows, God help me, he's knows. Bobbie's mind froze for a moment, her deepest fear taking hold of her.

"Do you need to sit down?" His voice was dangerously soft as he attempted to probe her obviously shaken psyche. Without waiting for a response, one hand fell to her shoulder and he led her unresisting figure to a nearby chair in the waiting area in an implacable grip.

Glancing around, he realized that they attracted more than a fair bit of attention and knew that he need to work quickly, only he had no idea what triggered this sort of reaction. On a hunch he asked, "Bobbie what is it about Caroline?"

"Don't call her that. Her name is Carly," the words came out automatically, but gave her a moment to realize that he had no clue. She took a deep sigh of relief that he carefully observed and as soon as she realized that fact, Bobbie stiffened. He had no idea, but if she didn't take control of this conversation, he was going to know something was up, if he didn't already. She had to do some serious disinformation and quickly.

"I'm just worried about her with the possible custody suit." His lack of reaction scared her, but it was common enough knowledge. There was no reason for Stefan or any Cassadine, for that matter, to be interested in Carly. She may have failed her daughter in many ways, but she took extreme care to keep her separate from that part of life. This had to be nipped in the bud immediately. Then she remembered that he had mentioned Laura.

"What did you mean about Laura?" She demanded, relieved that her voice seemed stronger.

Stefan was reluctant to let the issue drop so abruptly, he believed that she was concerned about her daughter, but that was far from the complete truth, but of course, there was more than one way to get to the truth. Seemingly switching gears he explained what Laura had told him and was not disappointed in her reaction.

"That _bitch_, that self-righteous, conniving little bitch!" Bobbie fumed. "Emily only went to her for help and she swore that she'd keep her damned mouth shut! Well, she's not going to get away with it! She has a problem with me and Luke, then fine she can damn well take it up with us, but how dare she try to go after my baby!" She turned to glare at him. "Stefan, I don't care how much you want to protect poor, helpless Laura, she just crossed a line and she should've known better!"

He shrugged at her, lifting his hands, palm up, in a gesture of acceptance. "I already told her that I would not be a party to such undertakings, nor will I stand in your way should you choose to retaliate. The only relationship I have with Laura now is because she is Nikolas' mother, as long as he is not caught in the crossfire, I will not intervene."

He paused, glancing at her as if she were an interesting specimen under a microscope that began behaving aberrantly. "So it's all true then?" Stefan kept his voice carefully modulated, trying to lure her into revealing more details.

"Yes, yes . . . damn her big mouth," Bobbie spoke distractedly, almost oblivious to his continued presence, her mind racing, thinking up various ways of damage control. "All that and more. . . "

"This was with her adoptive mother in Florida then?" He delved deeper, adroitly returning to the subject he most interested in.

"Yes . . ." She replied, absent-mindedly, before realizing what she was saying. The intensely curious light in his eyes making her distinctly uncomfortable, her daughter was not a topic for discussion with any Cassadine, and most particularly not Stefan. Bobbie abruptly stood up. "Thank you for telling me about Laura, but this isn't something you need to concern yourself with. Carly is a _Spencer_," she unconsciously emphasized that fact, "and we'll take care of her." And before he say anything more, she quickly walked away.

"What are you so desperately trying to hide, Barbara?" He mused aloud, watching her retreat with a predatory intent. He stood up slowly and began walking away, dialing a number on his cell phone. When he was a sufficient distance away, he ordered the others on the line, "I want to know everything there is on one Caroline Spencer, AKA Roberts, AKA Benson."

Stefan paused. "No, Helena remains your priority, but I expect results on this as well. Send a messenger over when you have all the pertinent data."

* * *

As soon as he was finally out of sight, Bobbie grabbed the nearest phone and frantically dialed, only to get Luke's answering machine. Dammit, Luke of all the times not to pick up, you have to choose now?" When the message was finished, her words came out in a rush. "Luke, call me as soon as you get this. We've got a few serious problems . . . Just . .. just call me, ok?" She slammed the phone down in frustration. 

"Problems . . . anything I can help with?" To her left, Amy Vining sidled up to her, an eagerly anticipative expression on her face.

Bobbie glanced at her and rolled her eyes. Great the single biggest gossip in Port Charles want to 'help', yeah, stab the knife into her back, she laughed sarcastically.

"No, thanks, Amy, I've got it under control."

"Are you sure, Bobbie? Because I saw Carly and that mobster she's with show up and then later, Stefan . . . "

"No, it's all fine." Bobbie said dismissively, hoping that she'd get the hint.

"Because really, it wouldn't be any trouble at all," Amy persisted, hoping to get some tantalizing tidbits about something.

"Amy . . . " Bobbie drew the word out, a sweet smile on her face as the other woman leaned closer. "Fuck off!" And she then turned to stalk off.

Amy's mouth dropped. "Well, I _never_ . . . " Looking around her, she spotted another nurse nearby and immediately walked over to her. "You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize that when it comes to Bobbie and that hell-spawn daughter or hers, perhaps the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, if you know what I mean."

The other woman's lack of reaction stumped her and she soon wandered off to found more fertile ground. In doing so, she missed the other woman rolling her eyes and ironically commenting in a soft voice. "Wow, _I_ didn't realize that she was capable of thought."

* * *

AJ slapped his open palm flat on the table, as he stood up. "You sonovabitch!" 

Jason stared at him from across the table, impassively, beneath the table Carly held his hand in a death grip.

"Counselor, I strongly suggest that you advise your client that while this is an informal meeting, violent outbursts are generally frowned upon in legal proceedings." Alexis Davis commented as calmly as if they were exchanging pleasantries, her bored disdain clearly apparent to all

A sharp look from his lawyer convinced AJ to sit down, although he couldn't resist another dig. "Oh, but blackmail is perfectly fucking legal?"

"I'm sorry, I don't recall hearing the word blackmail mentioned once. In fact as far as I'm concerned, my clients are offering Mr. Quatermaine with a more than fair deal. I'd advised them to take their evidence to the proper authorities and have your client locked up for the next ten or so years, assuming you could manage a decent plea bargain, which, of course, would pretty much rule out any chance of Mr. Quatermaine ever receiving custody."

Alexis never hesitated in laying out the harsh reality of the situation for the opposing counsel and AJ.

"Accept our offer or spend the next decade in federal prison, it's that simple."

Intimidated and clearly out-classed, AJ's attorney was visibly cowed. Initially he'd been wary of accepting this job, then when he had heard who was claiming custody of the child, reputed mob boo Jason Morgan, he'd ready to quit, but then he let the lure of money cloud his better judgment. Facing Morgan from across the table was enough to make him uncomfortable, but Alexis Davis had pretty much shredded any chance of winning this case. And the last thing he wanted was to incur any more notice from these people.

"M-may I have a moment to speak to my client in private?" He winced at the stutter in his voice.

Alexis looked over at Jason, who merely shrugged, before grudgingly acceding. "Fine, you can have five minutes and I suggest that you explain to your client exactly how precarious his position is legally." She gathered her file and briefcase and held the door open for her clients.

* * *

"Is this really going to work?" Carly asked in a hushed voice outside, as Jason stared through the door watching AJ and his lawyer conferring. 

Alexis shrugged slightly. "Assuming that man actually has a law degree?" She asked mockingly. "Then yes. If we release the evidence that AJ was responsible for the warehouse arson, than AJ runs the risk of going to prison, in addition to negating any chance he has of winning custody. Only a fool would be so stupid as to call our bluff."

She paused for a moment. "Of course, if he does than you'd have to explain to the police why you neglected to report this in the first place, of course, but I assume you have a reasonable explanation for that, right?" Her voice was a little testy.

"Sure, that's not something I'm worried about." Jason kept his eyes focused on AJ. Carly stood next to him, tuning out their conversation as she too watching the soundless drama.

"I don't see why you didn't take this to the police first." She shook her head. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear that you were trying to make this more difficult."

"Why would I involve the cops, considering how often they fuck up? Evidence vanishes all too often from the PC PD, Alexis. You should know that better than most."

"True, but usually you're the one responsible for the vanishing." She pointed out in an acerbating tone.

"Doesn't the change the fact." He stiffened. "Looks like their done."

"Good, hopefully this will be over with," Carly sounded both relieved and concerned. Jason squeezed her hand, as they waited for the door to open.

* * *

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Do something!" AJ demanded, standing up so abruptly that his chair spun out from under him, crashing into the wall behind him. 

"And what exactly would you like to me to do, Mr. Quatermaine?" The frustrated lawyer asked wearily. "Like it or not, your actions have put us in an untenable position. The best I can advise you is to accept the offer for now. Later on, perhaps the situation might change, but for now to put it bluntly – you're screwed."

"If you refuse," the man threw his hands up in the air, "then they will press charges and even if by some miracle you win in criminal court, which given what I've seen today is unlikely, they will have solidified their position in the meantime. Alexis Davis doesn't take on cases that lose, period. And if there is any other dirt they have on you . . . " The man let his voice trail off.

AJ slammed his fist into the table, knocking over the pitcher of water sending it slipping across the surface. "Do you want more money? Is that what this is about? Just name your damned price!"

"This isn't a matter of money." He shook his head. "If you had just let me know what you had done, then maybe I could have come up with an approach to overcome it, but you let me go into this blindsided and -"

"Come on . . . you went to _Harvard_, for Christ's sake! There has to be something you can do. He's a brain-damaged mobster and she's nothing but a crazy, fucking little whore! How the hell can you sit there and tell me that I can't win?"

The man sighed. This is exactly why he usually as far from custody cases as possible – they always got ugly and this was about to get much uglier, because high salary or not, he wasn't willing to take this case, either of them really, to court.

"The judge will take that into consideration, of course, but realistically, you're not much better. You were the one responsible for his brain damage, you are a convicted alcoholic, whereas Jason Morgan although suspected for long list of crimes has never been convicted. And as far Carly Spenser? Yes, she was locked up for the criminally disturbed, but she was also founded to be rehabilitated and released. Morgan is listed on the birth certificate and she is the mother, the courts do not like taking children from their mothers. All of that, not even considering the arson is working against you – throw that into the mix and you are almost guaranteed jail time and a loss at any further attempts to even win visitation privileges."

AJ stared the man down, listening to every damming word, fists impotently clenched at his sides.

"Accept the offer, Mr. Quatermaine. The hope of limited and observed visitation is the best opportunity you have." The lawyer was almost pleading at this point.

"Goddammit!" The epithet exploded with a violent undertone of menace that had the other man leaning away from AJ.

* * *

Alexis collected the necessary signatures, before placing the documentation in her briefcase and was more than ready to bring this unpleasant affair to a close. 

"I wish I could say that it's been a pleasure doing business with you . . ." her words faded off, with an ironic smile, before she stood up.

Next to her Jason also stood, a glint of satisfaction in his eyes almost matching Carly's wide smile, in direct opposition to AJ's alternating hateful and sneering glares. As they moved to leave the room, his voice brought them to abrupt halt.

"Don't think for one second that this is over, Jason. You may have won this time, but it's only temporary. If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to get my kid and bring that bitch next to you to heel!" The venom in his voice, stung Carly with a startlingly accuracy.

Jason felt her stiffen and half turn to face him, even as his arms reflectively tightened around her, holding her in place. He leaned down, until his mouth brushed her hair just above her ear. "Just keep it together until we're back in the car, ok?" She nodded tightly, but it was enough for him.

His head turned just enough to stare at his supposed brother, the cold gleam in his eyes promising a violent retribution. Despite his best efforts, AJ flinched and knew that he'd gone too far with that last comment, but he was too far gone to recognize the wisdom of backing down. There was nothing to do but brazen it out.

"This isn't over yet!" His angry flush blanched to a parchment pale white, when Jason finally spoke.

"No, it's not, but trust me; you'll be the first to know when it is." The seemingly innocuous words sent a chill down the spine of both AJ and his lawyer; the implications of it were lost on one in the room.

As they began to leave, Alexis spoke up. "Jason, if you need to me to defend you against murder charges, you know my number, of course."

AJ's lawyer looked at AJ and then at the still open door and collapsed into his seat, while AJ stared blankly at the door.

* * *

As soon as they got in the car, Carly turned to Jason. "I want in." 

"In on what?" Jason cautiously asked, almost afraid to hear the answer

She rolled her eyes. "Not that, Jase. Whatever you've got planned for AJ personally, I know you won't let me anywhere near. I want in on whatever is going down with ELQ. I want AJ broken, humiliated, turned into nothing and I want to be there to tell him when it happens."

"Carly . . . "

"Don't you dare Carly me, Jason. You heard what that bastard said. I have _more_ than earned this. I am not going to play the little woman while you go and beat up big, bad AJ for me. I can do this. You're buying up ELQ stock, so give it to me."

He stared at her for a long moment, debating the pros and cons. "Why?"

"Despite what everyone in this town thinks, I am far from stupid. Hell I'm a borderline genius. I may not have graduated high school, but I took my GED and went to a four year school in two and a half years, earning honors while working full time. I didn't major in business, but I pick up stuff, damn fast. I can learn how to run a business or run it into the ground. Think about it, Jase." Her voice took on a more serious, almost pleading tone to it.

"You know that you don't really want ELQ, it's just leverage to you, but get involved and you damn well that Edward is going to jump all over it. He'll see it as a way to get you back in the mansion. Me, they all hate me anyway. Think of how much more they'll hate me taking over their precious company? I'll bring them to their knees. You know I can do this, Jason, just give me a chance . . . . please?"

He sighed heavily. "You know you're asking for a world of trouble, right? " When she didn't respond, but just kept looking at him in _that_ way, Jason cursed under his breath. "Fine."

When she smiled and opened her mouth to speak, he cut her off. "But there are going to be conditions," and started to tick them off. "One, you're going to work with Justus and it's a deal breaker, Carly. Listen to him, he knows the Q's and ELG better than anyone and please try not to drive him too crazy, he's going to charge me an arm and a leg for this as it is. Secondly, you don't meet any of them; Justus included, without a bodyguard, no exceptions. Third, I tell you to back off, you do it, no arguements. And lastly, I'm sinking a huge amount of capital into this, so please don't run into the ground until I give you the ok, all right? Other than that,have fun."

"Oh my god! You _so_ will not regret this, Jase. I promise!" she jumped on top of him in her excitement.

"I think I already do." He wryly smiled, catching her small fist at she tried to mock punch him, before pulling her close for a deep kiss.

* * *

Dropping anchor at an obscure and abandoned dock, Helena glanced out her port side window at the nighttime visage of Port Charles, lit up in the distance and wickedly smiled, a mere curling up at the corners of her lips. Glancing back down at the papers spread out before her, she contemplated schemes within schemes. According to her various sources of intel, Stefan was just beginning to ask the right questions, although he still had no idea how explosive the answer would be. 

She played the notion of helping him, before deciding against it, at least for now. It would be far more amusing to allow him to blindly stumble in the darkness seeking answers. As long as her servants did their work properly, there would nothing for him to find and assuming he did learn something, it would be of little importance and would only further spur him on to a greater frustration.

Nikolas was another potential problem, depending on how circumstances played out. Helena would hate to have to sacrifice him, preferring to keep him in reserve as a spare pawn, but was ready to order the deed, if it became absolutely necessary. Once he learned the news, both he and Stefan were intelligent enough to anticipate her motivation and would act predictable to try and block her access. That could not be allowed to happen.

And that didn't even to begin to take into consideration the others players in this little drama.

The Spencers as always would stand against her, but with the exception of Luke and possibly his sister, 'Bobbie' . . . Helena shook her head at that particular sobriquet, so déclassé, the rest of them weren't even a consideration. Bobbie, and she snickered slightly, was the only one who knew the truth, but she would never willingly reveal it, not even or rather especially not to Stefan or her brother which worked heavily to her advantage.

Regarding Luke, she would have to take care. The merest hint of her presence before she was ready for the final act would be problematic, to say the least. Helena's smile grew even crueler. This particular victory would be the most delicious. Based on her information, he was growing more attached to her primary target by the day. Pulling off this coup might well succeed in breaking her most hated foe and she relished the thought.

Laura Spenser or was it Webber now, on the other hand, held interesting possibilities. She had proven to be unusually weak-willed and easily swayed years ago on the island; Helena couldn't see having changed that dramatically since. Of course, it wouldn't do to approach her directly, but for the proper subordinate bringing her into line would be a simple enough matter and would make an excellent tool to be used to distract Stefan, Nikolas and Luke in one fell swoop.

Given her most recent activities, she might yet become a pivotal player. Laura's access was unique and her bitterness made her ripe for the plucking. Even if Stefan and Luke managed to break free of her inexplicable draw, her sons would continue to keep her and by extension Helena and her soon-to-be-placed agent in the loop, as it were

The Quatermaines, if they sought to interfere, would have to be dealt with as well. The audacity of these upstart Americans never failed to amuse her. Jason Morgan might well prove to be a valuable asset in that regard, Helena mused, scribbling a question mark next to his name. She sorted through her paperwork until she pulled out his medical file, quickly scanning it. His brain damage might be a stroke of luck. After all, she wondered, how much of a resistance could he possibly provide under the circumstances?

Old debts were at last coming due and Helena looked forward with great satisfaction to collecting them.

TBC

Well, I've some dedicated reviewers & I love them dearly, lol. anyone else out there want to say something . . . anything . . . This story is on the brink of going **very** **AU**, but I can't say anything more for fear of ruining the surprise, but feel free to guess (although I'm sure it must be making a little more sense now, lol).

Well Helena has now arrived, so expect fireworks, lol.

Poor Carly, things are going to get a lot more complicated & interesting pretty soon. I've got lots of ideas for this story so if you've gotten this far, leave me a review. It's good karma, you know :D


	9. The Art of Acquisition

AN - some explanation is needed. This is set in the past, I'm thinking 98-99. definitely before the Sonny/Carly hate sex, a little AU (I've cobbled together both Carly new (the incident with the 'real' Carly's dad and the old (i.e. Virginia) pasts - as best as I could remember) and it's sort of Jason/Carly - my first, last & always OTP (one true pairing), but only slightly.

* * *

Chapter 9 – The Art of Acquisition

While Carly was meeting with Justus, Jason had his work to begin sorting out. For the time being, he had managed to put a stop to the custody proceedings, but he knew that was only temporary at best. Taking control of ELQ would go a bit farther solidifying their position, but there were other concerns as well, namely Robin and Sonny. As long as he remained under her influence, they were both a threat and before he was willing to even think about taking them out, which he was still hoping to avoid if at all possible, he wanted to find a find to neutralize them.

Luckily, Sonny's hands off attitude regarding the business worked to his favor. Although Sonny was still ostensibly in control, Jason was the one who kept everyone in line and was for all intents and purposes the boss. It didn't hurt that due to the whole Hanna Banana incident, and Jason cracked a smile at Carly's nickname for the moll, Sonny had transferred most of his property and assets over to Jason and never initiated their recovery.

His smile faded slightly. Betraying Sonny, his friend and mentor didn't sit well with him in the slightest and he really didn't want to move against the man he considered to be a brother, but if came down to protecting his family, Jason knew he wouldn't hesitate. He just really hoped that Sonny didn't force him into it, but either way, he had to prepare for all the contingences. After talking with Johnny, he sent him off to strengthen ties with members of the commission, just in case.

He turned his head as there was a knock at the door and a few seconds later, Lucky popped his head inside. "Got a minute?"

Jason stared at him for a long moment before nodding. "I expected you to come around sooner than later." His voice was even, but the younger man could hear the undertone of disappointment and anger.

Lucky sighed as he walked in. "Guess that means you heard about Emily and my mom then."

Jason raised an eyebrow as if to say obviously. "From Luke _and_ Bobbie. From you, I'm not even surprised, a little pissed, but not surprised. My sister is another story. Where is she?"

He winced. "Yeah, she had to go and make an appearance at the Q's." He paused, growing more serious.

"It's my fault, Jason. I knew what she was going to do and didn't stop her, then insisted that we go to my dad, because I thought he could talk to her and I ducked out so I could explain to you. It _really_ wasn't Em's fault."

"You done?" When he nodded, Jason stood up. "It must be in the Spenser DNA . . . " At Lucky's look of confusion, Jason shook his head. "Taking the fall. I don't even know how many times, Carly's tried to snow me with some bullshit story. I know you and I know my sister and this has her written all over it. So maybe your father bought that, but I don't. The only thing I do believe is you sneaking out. Emily fucked up, yeah, but she is my sister, Lucky. What the hell do you think I'm going to do to her?"

Lucky shrugged. He didn't think it would actually work, but it was worth a shot. At least, Jason was taking it better than his dad, who had hit the fucking roof.

"And I'm not the person you should be apologizing too."

"Yeah, I volunteered to see how pissed you and Carly were."

It was Jason's turn to shrug. "I'm more pissed than she is, but don't think she's going to go easy on either of you. Expect to spend time groveling and babysitting, although I'm pretty sure that Emily will get off a little lighter."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Lucky rolled his eyes. "She's still holding a grudge then?"

He smirked. "She can't help but bust your chops, so suck it up Spenser. I warned you not to call her Carlybabes. She really hates that."

Lucky scowled. "Well, if she'd stop calling me mini-Luke, I would."

"Hey, far as Carly's concerned, you started it." Jason shrugged, watching as he sprawled out on the couch. "How are things between you and Emily?"

He shook his head. Talking about his girlfriend with his friend, sometimes boss and over-protective enforcer brother was never Lucky's idea of a fun time, but his options were fairly limited. His dad and Carly were _conflicted_, Nikolas was out of the loop, his mother out of the question, obviously, and he wasn't even really talking to Em at the moment . . .

"What do you want me to say? I know she didn't mean anything and that she only wanted to help. I know it all and the worst part is that I knew she was going to do it. I warned her, but I didn't tell her not to do it. And if I had, she wouldn't have done it, but I didn't. I knew it was going to end bad, but I just thought that maybe there was a chance."

Lucky stared at the floor, because he knew it hadn't said the worst of it and somehow he knew that Jason knew it too. How Jason knew was one of the great mysteries that was Jason Morgan. He also knew that he could stop there and Jason would let it slide, but it would eat him up inside.

"If it had been Carly who was about to say something like that about Emily, then I would've stopped her." The words broke free like a damning proclamation and if he expected to feel a sense of redemption, he missed it somehow.

"Yeah," was the slow reply, "I know."

"Then why are you _so fucking calm_?" Lucky exploded, staring up at the older man angrily. "_Why_ aren't you kicking my ass or something?"

"Would it make you feel better if I did?" Jason relaxed slightly. The kid needed to deal with his guilt one way or another.

"If you had done what I had did, I'd damn well kick _your_ ass!"

"You'd try, anyway," he pointed out. "If Luke hadn't warned me so I could move forward against AJ, I might have been tempted, but he did, so I got the custody agreement signed and filed. If Laura does talk, it won't mean losing Michael and that's important to Carly." He shrugged. "The news might have gotten out some other way. Am I happy? Fuck no! But I kick your ass and not only do I have to deal with your family – Luke and Bobbie, but Emily and Carly would come after me too. Just because we're pissed at you, doesn't mean that we don't care either."

Lucky stared incomprehensively at him for a long minute, processing everything he had to say. He weakly smirked. "Yeah, right. Knowing Carly, she'd get a few shots in, herself."

Tilting his head, Jason arched an eyebrow. "Maybe. But she'd get me for it, later."

"So we're cool then?" At the other man's nod of assent, Lucky's smile widened slightly. "This mean that I still have a job?"

"As long as you don't fuck up again? Sure."

* * *

Justus rolled his eyes making a mental note to charge Jason double time for this. 

Noticing, Carly laughed. "You need to loosen up, Justus. Trust me, this is going to be fun." At his raised eyebrows, she laughed again. "Look, you might be a Quatermaine by blood, but we both you how they treat you and this is your chance. Working together, they can't stop us."

Leaning back into his chair, he didn't whether to laugh or cry. "Carly, your issues with the Quatermaines are completely different than mine."

"True enough," she admitted, but with a brightly wicked smile, she quickly added, "that doesn't mean that we can't work together. It's pretty much your job, and since I'm not going to change my mind, you might as well work with me than against me, right?"

"Well, there is that, of course," he acknowledged. "But," he warned her, "this isn't going to be easy."

"Nothing easy is worth anything."

Justus nodded. "Ok, as it stands, both Jason and I have transferred our shares to you, which gives you a total of 20, enough to make the Quatermaines take notice if we're not careful. At the moment, they're under a holding company, so we should be safe for the moment, providing that no one looks too closely."

"And if they do? I mean aren't these things documented somewhere? Because if Edward or Ned get a clue, they will freak."

"They won't." He said definitively, when it looked like she was going to say something, he held up his hand. "Carly, I do know what I'm doing. The transfer to the holding company just happened today, the actual sale of the transaction is post-dated to the morning of the next ELQ quarterly meeting and by that time the stocks will have changed through enough hands that no one will have a clue until you announce it. The bigger problem is getting more shares. Most of the stock is as you know held in the family."

"Most, but not all," she was quick to point out, relieved that was one less thing she had to worry about. "There is Jax's shares, he's still reeling from trying to rebuild his company, I'm sure for the right price, we could acquire his. Not to mention Katherine Bell. We also might be able to talk Tracy into selling hers. And maybe we could get some from Lila and Emily."

"Wait . . . hold up for a minute." Justus rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. Some of her ideas were outrageous, but among them, he could see a twisted sort of logic. "Jax and Tracy are viable options. For the right price both of them will sell, I'd prefer to approach Tracy last - "

"Right, because she won't be able to keep her mouth shut." Carly cut him off in her excitement. "But Jax, I think we should move in on immediately. The way he's making money in Monte Carlo, it won't be long before he's got enough working capital to be a pain in the ass about it."

He stared first at the ceiling, hoping for divine intervention and when that was not forthcoming, he glanced over to Johnny who wasn't even attempting to hide his snickering.

"Hey man, don't look at me, I'm just here as the hired gun." Johnny answered the unspoken request. He'd been dragging out shopping with Carly before and recognized the acquisitive gleam in her eye, there was no way he was going to get in her way when she saw something she wanted.

Without skipping a beat, Carly said, "Don't mess with me DeMarco, we could always hit a few stores after this." When he quickly raised his hands in acquiescence, she laughed, before refocusing on the lawyer.

Justus sighed, she reminded him of Edward at that moment – intensely driven. "Ok, I agree with you on that point and to be honest I've already begun negotiations with him towards that goal."

"Excellent!" Carly's smile broadened as she leapt to her feet and began to rapidly pace in a tight circle in front of his desk.

"Katherine Bell, on the other hand, will be difficult." At Carly's look of confusion, he elaborated. "She got her shares after the fallout from her non-marriage to Ned and pretty much wields them like a weapon against him. She follows no agenda but her own and will be resistant to selling. We might be able to persuade her to you the proxy over her shares, but selling them outright, I doubt it. Of course, there is always the possibility that she'll run to Ned just to stick it to him and if she won't sell, it might not even be worth it."

"Damn . . . that sucks. Lemme me think about that one and I'll get back to you. Everyone has their vulnerability. I just need to figure out what hers is," Carly paused, thinking aloud.

"Likewise, I doubt Lila would sell her shares either – "

She interrupted him again. "You leave Lila to me. I've already got a plan for that."

"A plan?" Justus raised a skeptical eyebrow at that. "You do remember who we're talking about here. This is Lila, not a vulture like Edward or Tracy, or any of the other Q's really."

"Don't even worry about, this is in the bag. And no, I'm not going to coerce her or anything, I happen to like and respect Lila. I'm just going to take her up on a offer she made awhile ago?"

"Which included her shares?" He asked suspiciously.

"Yes!" Carly exclaimed in exasperation. "Just relax, man. You're way too uptight."

Shaking his head, Justus sighed. "Ok, fine. Even if your _plan_ works, including Lila, Tracy and Jax's shares with what you already have, you still come up short. You'll only own 45, which is not enough to control ELQ."

She nodded, pacing even faster. "I need Katherine Bell's shares, which would bring me up to 50 and that is where Emily will hopefully come into play. . . I need someone, either Alan or Edward to give her a small share, even just one percent and I'm set."

"Does my cousin, either of them, know you're playing to use Emily in this little plot of yours?" He asked after a moment of stunned silence. Granted, he didn't talk to Emily much, but he was fairly confident of her opinions of getting involved in ELQ and he could imagine Jason being a party to a scheme like this.

"Emily owes me, she knows why. If I ask her to, she'll do it. She won't be thrilled about it, but she'll do it. And Jason . . ." She shrugged, her voice drifting off. "Well, he won't like it either, but he'll deal."

He cocked his head to side, thinking over what she had said. No, Jason definitely wouldn't like it and while he get be pissed at Carly, ultimately Jason would come down on him for allowing it. "Why don't we wait on that as a last resort? Don't forget that there is another three percent floating around that you could make a play for."

"Who?" Carly asked warily, concerned since he hadn't brought it up earlier.

"Alexis Davis."

She winced reflectively.

* * *

Bobbie stormed into the penthouse. "Jason, we need to talk!" 

He closed his eyes, really beginning to hate that word. "Carly isn't here, Bobbie."

"I know that, otherwise I wouldn't be here. Guess what that bitch did now?"

Jason's eyes flew open at that, before immediately narrowing. "Bobbie, you had better not be talking about Carly." His voice was low, with an underlying trace of anger.

"Carly?" She shook her head in frustrated bewilderment, growing even more upset that he would think that. "No, this is _about _Carly. That bitch told Stefan _everything_ and now he – "

"Wait a minute . . . " He ran his hand through his hair, thoroughly confused now. "What bitch told what?"

"Dammit, Jason, pay _attention_!" She yelled, feeling like she was at her wit's end. "Laura told Stefan _fucking_ Cassadine _everything_ she got from Emily! I know because he came up to today at the hospital to ask me about it!"

He stared at her blankly for a moment, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Ok, Laura told Stefan and? We knew that she wasn't going to keep her mouth shut. Did she tell Monica or any of the other Q's?"

Seemingly thrown by the change in topic, Bobbie quickly retorted. "No, not as far as I know and believe me, I would've heard about it, but that's not the point."

"Then what is the point? So Stefan knows, so what?"

Bobbie stared at him, her mouth falling open. "So what? This is Stefan Cassadine, we're talking about. And now because of Laura's meddling, he is suddenly _interested_ in Carly."

"Interested? _Interested_ how?" If nothing else that caught his attention, Bobbie was freaking out, but he didn't know why. "He's never even spoken to Carly, why would be interested at all?" Something was going on here and he didn't know what, but the hair on the back of his neck was starting to rise.

Uh oh, the suddenly sharpening focus in his eyes was putting her on more of an edge than before. "She's a Spencer, he's a Cassadine – that's enough of a reason."

A lie. Jason knew that with a certainty he didn't question. Bobbie was hiding something and whatever it was, it had to be big to elicit this kind of a reaction.

"He's dangerous, all Cassadines are dangerous, especially to Carly."

There was just enough truth in that to make him wary, whatever Bobbie's secret was, Carly was in the middle of it.

"Why?" The demand was issued harshly and with an almost rapid fire speed.

"He just is!" She insisted anxiously. "You have to keep him away from her."

"Tell me why, Bobbie. Why would Stefan or any Cassadine for that matter come after Carly and not you or Luke?" When she paled, he knew that he was getting closer. Jason pressed on, feeling no guilt when she staggered, hearing his next question. "And what does her past have anything to do with anything?"

"Jason, I have never asked you for anything – not when I found out you knew Carly was my daughter, not when she in Ferncliffe, not even when I knew had gotten back involved with you, knowing your lifestyle might be dangerous to her and Michael – well, I'm asking now. Keep him away from my daughter, if you don't, we could all lose her and Michael."

Bobbie blinked back her tears as she spoke, fighting to keep her voice from breaking as she held her breath, waiting desperately for his response. If he couldn't or wouldn't agree, she'd have to go to Luke and tell him everything. She knew Luke might never forgive _her_, but he would protect his niece and grand-nephew . . . she hoped.

The sins of the mother didn't have to fall to the child, she had to believe that or else she had already lost and Bobbie would do anything to prevent that. She had made so many mistakes with Carly, this was one that she had hoped would never come out, but Bobbie had recognized that look in Stefan's eyes. She had ignored it once during their marriage and it had nearly cost her everything, ignoring it this time would cost her so much more.

If only Laura could have had kept her damned mouth shut! Bobbie had always suspected that Luke's ex had it in for her, but she couldn't have scored such a direct hit, if she had tried, of all the people in the world to tell . . . If the situation wasn't so fucking dire, she would have laughed, because she refused to cry. The truth would change everything and Bobbie knew she had to whatever she had to keep it from imploding Carly's world.

"I want to know why, Bobbie."

The ultimatum left her cold and shaken.

"You don't know what you're asking, Jason. You don't." Bobbie shook her head, feeling more than a bit faint.

Actually saying the words would it make it true and she wasn't prepared to go there yet. If anyone deserved them, other than Carly, it would have to be Luke and only Luke. And as much as she hated it, the alternative would be so much worse.

"If you can't or won't protect my daughter and grandson, then you'll force to go to Luke and when he's through, you'll never see either of them ever again. Don't make me do that, Jason, please."

He stared at her with an air of menace clinging to him. She absolutely believed what she was saying and the merest suggestion of a life without Carly and Michael was enough to bring out every primitively possessive tendency within him. Jason had to force himself to reign in his temper, lashing out at Bobbie would do nothing but escalate the situation.

"I will _always_ protect Carly and Michael, but I need to know what to protect them from." He ground the words out.

"I already told you! Keep her away from the Cassadines, _especially _Stefan or else . . . "

"You do not want to threaten me, Bobbie."

"Take care of my daughter or I will!" She glared at him, just as angrily, before stalking out and slamming the door behind her.

"Well that was just a _little_ extreme, wasn't it?" Lucky commented, walking out from the kitchen, a strangely curious expression on his face.

Jason waited a moment before demanding, "What the fuck do you know, Lucky?"

"Whoa, man." Lucky raised his hands in a defensive gesture. "You're as much in the dark on this one as I am. I have _no_ idea what that was all about!"

Narrowing his eyes, Jason stared him down until he was satisfied that Lucky was telling the truth. "Fine then, tell me what you do know about Stefan and any reason he might be after Carly."

Lucky shrugged, taking a sip from the can of soda he had gone into the kitchen for when Bobbie had shown up. Before he had gotten the chance to say hi to her, she had already begun fighting with Jason. "Honestly, I don't know. " He paused for a moment, sitting while trying to figure this out.

"I mean other than the obvious fact that he's a Cassadine and she's a Spencer, for anyone else in his family other than Nikolas and maybe Alexis since she's on the outs with the rest of them, it'd be enough, but Stefan's funny." At Jason's impatient look of confusion, he continued thinking aloud.

"For the most part, he's stayed out of the whole Cassadine murder and mayhem as to a way to world domination kick. He and Bobbie were married, which fell apart when he caught her trying to poison or drug him, depending on who you talk to, for my dad in some scheme in his never-ending vendetta. But even after that, he didn't try to retaliate against her other than to deny her alimony."

"He had a thing for my mom years ago, thus Nikolas," Luke commented wryly, "and took over as CEO at GH, although that wasn't exactly a kosher deal and he also kidnapped my grandmother for a few years, although he claims that was to protect her from Helena, but who the fuck really knows?"

"But going after Carly?" Lucky shook his head. "That I don't understand. I mean she is a Spencer sure, but in the whole Spencer/Cassadine politics, she's peripheral at the most. Even if Stefan did want to start the wars up again, which he's never shown much of a taste for, there are far better targets than Carly. I'd expect him to come after my dad, given his hang-up for my mom. Carly is barely acknowledged as a Spencer as far as the general population knows, there'd be no advantage in coming after her, unless you figured into the scheme and even then she'd be an indirect target. It doesn't make sense."

"Bobbie believes he will." Jason's voice was as tight as his fists clenched at his side.

"_Yeah_, obviously, but not for any reason I know. I mean, I'll talk to my dad and sees if he knows what's going on, but I can't promise anything."

"You think you can get anything from him?"

"Please, I'm no rank amateur. If he knows anything, I'll get it out of him, but don't hold your breath. If my dad knew something, he would have told me long ago, especially if it involved a Cassadine. Spencers don't keep secrets from each other." Lucky smirked.

Thinking about how Carly and Luke had kept her secret from Bobbie and now whatever secret Bobbie wasn't telling, Jason seriously wondered about that the validity of that particular statement, but deciding against mentioning it.

"I'll also check in with Nikolas, maybe he can figure out something from that end." He offered, but shrugged as if to say not to expect too much.

"Do that and if you learn anything, you come to me, not Carly," Jason warned him. "I don't want her freaking out if this turns out to be nothing."

"You got it, man."

* * *

More than pleased with herself, Carly glanced at her watch. It was still relatively early and Jason had mentioned that he was going to busy until dinner time with business, so she had a few hours to kill. The plan to buy up ELQ was going well, by tomorrow, with Jax's shares, she'd own one quarter. She still had to talk to Lila, lay the groundwork for the purchase of Tracy's portion and deal with whole Katherine Bell and Alexis Davis issue and she frowned at that thought, but Carly wasn't nearly as concerned about the petty details. After all, she thought with a smirk that's what she had Justus for. 

Who needed to go shopping when she could buy a Fortune 500 company and screw over the Q's in one fell swoop? Carly decided to go to Luke's. Granted Luke would probably be there, which would be fun as always, but she needed to gloat to someone and considering her circle of friends, she smirked at the thought, she was admittedly limited in that respect.

Walking in, it was surprisingly deserted, Claude mentioned that both Lucky and Emily had taken off and he hadn't seen Luke in a few hours. Carly scanned the room, feeling oddly disappointed. Luke was never really going to approve of her, that ship, if it ever really existed, sailed long ago, but with the exception of Lucky he was the one person she thought would appreciate the irony of her stealing ELQ out from under them.

Jason, though she loved him dearly, couldn't see the delicious perfection of it. To him it was merely another tool, a means to an end, whereas to her it was a brilliant act of vengeance. She understood the Quatermaine's collective mindframe – AJ wanted only Micheal to satisfy Edward's bid for immortality through passing down the company within the family. Well, she was going to give the old bastard his heart's fondest desire, just not the exactly way he planned. She smiled, imagining the look on his face when he realized what had happened.

Carly turned to leave, when she heard Luke's voice abruptly. Tilting her head, she began walking towards his office. As she approached, she stopped just short of entering.

"Lay off the kid, Luke. She made a mistake, it happens." Carly leaned up against the doorframe. "It's not like the Spencers have the patent on fucking up and if anyone has the right to be pissed, I would think that would be me."

Both Emily and Luke turned to stare at her, a look of relief quickly followed by a guilty wince on Em's face, while Luke just glared at her.

"You _would_ defend her just to piss me off, don't think I don't know what you doing, Caroline." He rolled his eyes, throwing up his hands in frustration.

"Hi, Carly." Emily looked more subdued than the older woman had ever seen her and Carly felt a slight twinge of remorse at the conversation she was about to initiate, but shrugged it off. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

"You wanna get out of here? I've got some shopping to do and we can . . . _chat_," the last word falling heavily in the awkward silence.

"Ummm," Emily glanced between the two Spencers uneasily, wondering which was the lesser of two evils. Luke was just pissed off at her and seemed to be taking a mid-rant break, Carly on the other hand seemed calmer, but Emily knew better than to trust it that, but then again Carly was the person she did really need to speak with and either one was a better option that going back home. "Ok," she hesitantly offered, in a more excited voice that she actually felt.

Resigned, Luke watched the interplay between the two women, knowing the Carly was up to something, but couldn't quite place it. Lucky or Jason would have a better idea, but standing past Carly he could see Johnny lurked in the shadows, hopefully he'd keep them out of trouble. He nodded slightly to the bodyguard, before snarking at them. "Good idea, get the hell out of my club. Some of us _actually_ do work around here, although I know it's a novel concept for you Caroline."

She laughed at that, "Yeah, I know. I saw Claude outside, poor guy having to keep this place running, because we all know you don't. Come on, Em." She smirked at him, before walking out, Emily following after giving him an apologetic shrug.

Once he heard the front door shut, he picked up the phone and dialed. "Ok, Bobbie, spill it. What the hell is going on with Prince Vlad?"

* * *

"What do you mean, you can't find anything? How is that possible?" Stefan demanded heatedly. The answer he received did nothing to satisfy him and he slammed the phone down hard enough to crack the plastic. 

It was a sign of his growing aggravation that his usual calm exterior was slipping. His investigator was having more luck, slight thought it was, in tracing the whereabouts of his mother than in learning the particulars of Caroline Spenser's background, which made no sense. Helena was barely trying to cover her tracks, yet all the records of Caroline before her arrival in Port Charles included the file he had originally complied on her were either missing or had been recently destroyed in a series of 'suspicious' fires.

Stefan Cassadine did not believe in coincidence. Even if Morgan had, for reasons of his own, the fires set in some ill-conceived plan to protect his paramour there would be no reason to steal his paperwork, nor opportunity. He had only just divulged the information to Barbara Jean yesterday and his security on the island was near impenetrable. Other than the occasional visitation from Luke Spencer, which contrary to the other man's belief, Stefan always permitted with the idea that allowing him his petty victories kept him from attempting other schemes, no one other than family or staff stepped foot on the island.

Morgan would have no chance to infiltrate his employees, their loyalty was absolute to the Cassadine family, if not himself. No, whoever had taken his file must have done so upon the order of his mother. And if Helena was interested in Caroline, then that went far in explaining his investigator's lack of progress.

But the why behind such an action was what he couldn't understand. As it currently stood, Carly Spencer should have barely registered in his mother's schemes. There had to be some unseen connection between his mother and Barbara Jean's daughter, but the girl hadn't even been in town on Helena's last visit. The obvious answer would be that it must have occurred before her arrival, but when?

Leaning back in his chair, he reviewed from memory everything he could remember from his brief perusal of the file almost a year and a half ago. Born twenty one years ago in Florida, given up for adoption to a Virginia and . . . no, he couldn't remember the husband's name . . . something Roberts. In the end, it was irrelevant; the husband abandoned them a few years later. Stefan recalled that their economic status fell shortly afterwards, forcing them to move into something the Americans called a trailer park, but he would consider to be a ghetto at best. There had been a mention of some trouble in high school, now thanks to Laura, he knew what that had been in reference to and the girl ran away to Miami and lived a life on the streets until Bobbie's investigator tracked her down.

Toying with the pink ribbon on the now crushed cigar, he thought back to his family's past, where would the intersection have been and when? To the best of his knowledge, Helena had never once been to the state, which Caroline never seem to have left before appearing under a false identity in Port Charles. He remembered his only visit to the state, with his father and Stavros and couldn't imagine his mother enjoying it much.

Then again, for him, it was a memory best forgotten. Too hot, poor company and his brother and father did nothing but whore around. Idly, he remembered the one bright moment in the entire trial his visit turned into. The young woman he had inadvertently saved from Starvos' unwelcome attention. To say she had been grateful was an understatement . . . Starvos had paid him back in full for him afterwards, but it was to be a precursor to his relationship with Laura back in Greece.

The beating he had taken the next morning was brutal to say the least. He couldn't remember her name, but for one in her profession she had been beautiful though terribly young, he had been scarcely older. Feeling a twinge of guilt, he struggled to remember her face but the image was too faded by time, all he could visualize was gorgeous red hair.

Red hair . . .

Stefan felt a cold wave of denial swept through him.

That had taken place, nearly twenty three years ago.

Beneath his fingers, his knuckles now bone white reflecting viciousness of his grasp, the cigar crumbled to dust, leaving only the pink ribbon curling delicately around his fingers.

Everything fit - the time period, his memory, Barbara Jean's reaction to his questions, the sudden movements of his mother, and that the damnable pink-ribboned cigar. Everything fit.

Unable to control the sudden maelstrom of violence with him, he roared a scream of rage. Rising to his feet, he wildly shoved the desk and watched in feral satisfaction as it crashed into the imported lead crystal glass window pane. In the wake of shattered glass and rush of footsteps, he waved the servants who appeared at the door away with one dark and fiercely glittering glare.

Beneath the vehemence of his anger, grief and bitterness, there was a small but intense burst of joy, almost buried under an overwhelming sense of remorse and Stefan deeply inhaled, drawing on every shred of his hard-fought for discipline. There was an infinitesimal chance that he was wrong, that he was jumping to conclusions based on nothing more than weak conjecture, but even as he acknowledged the possibility, Stefan knew with a gut-wrenching certainty that he was right.

The longer he accepted it as the truth, the more implications staggered him and with Helena back in the picture . . . He scanned the room and finding the phone, quickly rattled off a series of orders. He wanted them guarded, but it must be kept extremely low-key, without alerting anyone. Before he dared do anything more, he needed undeniable proof and he knew exactly where to find it.

TBC

Well, I've some dedicated reviewers & I love them dearly, lol. anyone else out there want to say something . . . anything . . . This story is on the brink of going **very** **AU**, but I can't say anything more for fear of ruining the surprise, but feel free to guess (although I'm sure it must be making a little more sense now, lol).

Well Helena has now arrived, so expect fireworks, lol.

Poor Carly, things are going to get a lot more complicated & interesting pretty soon. I've got lots of ideas for this story so if you've gotten this far, leave me a review. It's good karma, you know :D


	10. Town Hellion

AN - some explanation is needed. This is set in the past, I'm thinking 98-99. definitely before the Sonny/Carly hate sex, a little AU (I've cobbled together both Carly new (the incident with the 'real' Carly's dad and the old (i.e. Virginia) pasts - as best as I could remember) and it's sort of Jason/Carly - my first, last & always OTP (one true pairing), but only slightly.

sorry for the extended delay, I've been having serious family issues lately, so even though, i'm not terribly thrilled with this chapter, I'm posting it, because it's as good as I can get it at this moment.

* * *

Chapter10 – Town Hellion

Nicholas shook his head, for the third time in as many nights Stefan was holed up in his office, surrounded by photos, paperwork and on the phone yet again. Leaning against the doorframe, he broodingly studied the older man, his father, he reminded himself, who remained seemingly oblivious to his presence, which was out of character to say the least. As distasteful as it was, he didn't see much of a choice anymore.

Backing silently out of the room, he pulled out his cell phone and began dialing.

Lucky heard the phone long before he blearily opened one eye and promptly winced when he saw his clock blinking 4:45 in angry red neon lights. He was really going to have to start disconnecting his phone if everyone insisted on calling him so damn early in the morning. Reaching over he picked the phone up only to immediately hang it up – whoever it was could at least wait until the sun was up, he decided, burying his head back into his pillow. When it simply began ringing again, he swore loudly, before picking it up.

"Someone had seriously better be dead . . . " He muttered into the phone, pulling himself to a seated position.

"Dead? Not to my knowledge, at least not at the moment . . ." a familiar and wry voice responded.

"Nikolas? Man, what the fuck? Don't they have clocks on that island or what?" Lucky grumbled, raking a hand through his hair.

His brother rolled his eyes, refusing to even dignify that question with an answer. "Look, you were the one who wanted to know if anything strange was going on with Stefan . . . so now I want some answers. What the hell your cousin is up to?"

Lucky's eyes widened. Although he had told Jason that he'd hit up Nikolas for answers, he hadn't actually expected his distrustful brother to spill any info and the fact that Carly had somehow wound up in the mix, definitely caught his attention and he countered with his own demand. "Why, what's Stefan up to?"

Tempted into the knee-jerk response of, "I asked first," Nikolas took a deep breath. Now was not the time to descend into juvenile one-up-man-ship. Someone was going to have to give ground somewhere and based on Lucky's unusual protectiveness of Carly lately, it looked like he would have to take the plunge if he wanted to start figuring this thing out.

"Fine. He's been obsessively going over pictures of Carly and Michael for the past few days and doing an extensive background check, although as far as I can tell he's hitting massive roadblocks. Whatever Carly's into, Lucky, it's big and her history is practically non-existent."

"What? Ok, that doesn't make _any_ sense." Lucky turned on his bedside lamp, as if the light would help him think better. "Why the hell is he investigating Carly?"

"You tell me. You're the one who asked if he was behaving oddly, well for my father, this definitely qualifies as odd and since you brought it up, you have to know more than you're saying, so tell me what you know!" Despite himself, nearly a weeks worth of frustration and worry came through his voice. "If that little bitch is - "

"Whoa, man . . . you do _not_ want to go there," Lucky's voice cut him off, with a dangerously soft note that even over the phone chilled Nikolas. "You're pissed off, man, I get that, but that's my cousin, you're talking about . . . " His voice faded slightly, delivering the unspoken threat with every bit of intensity as Nikolas half-uttered one.

"Fine," Nikolas bit off the word, roughly exhaling. "But I want to know what is going on, Lucky."

"Yeah, join the fucking club," came the sarcastic reply.

Lucky stared at the shadows playing across his wall, debating what to say, not that he knew much in the first place. Bobbie wasn't telling anyone anything as far as he could tell, his dad had immediately gone into bunker mode which was pretty much par for course whenever the 'Cassadine threat' loomed, Carly didn't know a damn thing and now he had Jason _and_ his brother on his case. . . All in all, it wasn't much of a fun week, so far and he had a sneaking suspicion that it was going to get worse, before it got better.

"You're stalling, Spencer," Nikolas accused in the drawn out silence.

"Thinking, not stalling. Honestly, man, I don't know what's going on." Lucky made his decision. "Bobbie's been freaking out about your dad, something about him being a threat to Carly and Michael, which went over about as well as you can imagine, but hasn't told anyone why, other than the usual Cassadine-Spencer war bullshit."

"Bobbie?" The disbelief in his voice was clearly audible. Nikolas was more confused by that than ever, of all the Spencers, he would have expected her to be more open-minded. He still remembered that brief period of time when she had been his step-mother.

"Yep."

"But that doesn't make any sense. Stefan has no reason to come after Carly unless she did something to him and as far as starting up the vendetta . . . If Stefan had wanted that, he would have done it years ago."

"Yeah, that's what I said, except that I know Carly hasn't done a damn thing to Stefan or you. And before Bobbie got on this kick, I don't even think Carly even knew about the war."

"Sure," scoffed the Cassadine.

"Hey, I'm serious. It not like anyone handed her a copy of the damn cliff notes or something."

"Lucky, everyone in this entire town knows."

"True, but most of them were around to watch it happening. Carly only got here two years and was busy pulling her own shit, doing her damn best to avoid the family entirely. And at this point, if everything did blow up again, I wouldn't put it past her to throw in with Stefan just to piss off Bobbie and Luke, at least temporarily anyway."

"That bad?"

"Nik, you have _no_ idea . . . "

Nikolas fell quiet for a moment, thinking over everything Lucky had said, until an idea suddenly occurred to him. "You don't think that she's working with Helena do you?"

"Helena's back in town?" Lucky's voice sharpened with alertness,

"Not sure, but the way my father is acting, I wouldn't be surprised."

"Fuck!" Lucky violently swore, throwing his legs over the side as he searched out a pair of jeans. "You couldn't have me told this before?"

"Like I said, I'm not sure," Nikolas replied defensively, he paused before adding, "but it _would_ make sense if she was working with Carly."

"No way, man. Carly might be pissed off and even a little crazy, but she's not that insane. Luke's already indoctrinated her about Helena. Stefan might be the Prince of Darkness as far as my dad is concerned but that's entirely different that your bitch of a grandmother . . . no offense, Nik."

"None taken," he commented wryly. "You did say she was pissed off though. . ."

"Pissed off is one thing, hell even Bobbie threw in with Stefan to jerk my dad's chain, but getting involved with Helena? Not even Carly is that homicidal or suicidal, for that matter. Besides, she wouldn't have had the time or opportunity. Jason's guys are always with her and now he's got her all distracted with going after ELQ and the Quatermaines anyway."

"The Quatermaines? How's Emily feel about that?"

"Disturbingly enough, Em's right there with her . . . " Lucky knelt down to find his sneakers. Yep, under the bed, as usual. "Look, I don't know what your dad's deal with Carly is, but it isn't coming from my end, which means it's a Cassadine scheme and puts it back in your court.

"But it's not logical, Lucky!" Nikolas was growing increasingly frustrated.

"Logical, come on, man. You're a Cassadine talking to a Spencer here, you should know by now that we don't do logic. What can I say? Figure it out and fast. Bobbie's got my dad and Jason up in arms as it is, Stefan makes the wrong move and they're going to be all over him."

"Can't you do something, Lucky?"

"Like what exactly? You know how paranoid my dad is and Jason's twice as worse. Gimmie something to work with and I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything if Stefan starts something."

Cynically, Nikolas nodded to himself. He knew from past experience where this was going. "And if something does happen are you going to turn on me too, brother . . . ?" His voice was deceptively quiet, even as his question had all the impact of a sudden punch to the gut.

Lucky pulled the phone away from his ear for a moment, sighing heavily as he took a minute to calm himself down.

"Don't do this, man. You're my brother but . . . "

"Family is family, yes, I understand that all too well, even if you seem to have a loose definition of family. You'd rather side with . . . Carly," he spat out her name, "simply because she's suddenly been embraced as a Spencer, then your own brother."

"Dammit, Nik!" Lucky hissed back. "It's not like that. There is shit going on that you know nothing about!"

"Then by all means, please enlighten me." His bitterly, sarcastic tone just pissed off his brother even more.

"You know I can't do that!"

"Oh, right, because I'm not really family. Then so be it, take care of your family as you see fit, Lucky, but never doubt that I will also be taking care of _my_ family." Nikolas's voice was very coolly precise, before he abruptly hung up.

"Fan-fucking-tastic, Spencer. Nothing like winning friends and influencing people . . ." Lucky shook his head, before angrily tossing the phone. He stared at the slight dent it in the wall it made. "Sonofabitch . . ." Lucky glanced at his clock; it was just after 5 AM. There was no going to sleep after that conversation and it was too early to even consider waking up his dad or Luke, so grabbing a jacket, he walked out, maybe a long stroll would get his head clear.

* * *

Carefully placing the phone in its cradle, Nikolas rested his head against the wall. Truthfully the conversation had pretty much gone the way he had expected, because when it came down to family lines, while he was willing to back whoever was in the right, Lucky always choose the Spencers regardless, making it more than obvious where he stood. He sighed heavily, whatever the hell was going on, it was more than clear that he was on his own, but just once he wished that when it really mattered there would be someone on his side. Pushing himself off the wall, he turned slightly and made his way down back to Stefan's office, one way or another he was going to find out what was going on. 

"Nikolas," Stefan looked up in surprise to see his son standing in the doorway.

"Father," Nikolas replied almost reproachfully. "You need to tell me what all this," his hand gestured to the pile of photos and documents carelessly strewn across the room, "is about, because if you're in trouble, then I want to help."

"Trouble . . . " Stefan laughed ruefully. "Well that's one way of putting it, I suppose. Please sit down and close the door, we have much to discuss and this has to be kept between you and I alone until certain measures have been set into motion."

Nikolas' eyes narrowed warily at the serious note in this father's voice. Pulling a chair up along side the desk, he sank into it slowly and forced himself to ask the question that he wasn't sure he really wanted answered. "Are we going to war with the Spencers?"

"War?" Stefan looked up as if startled by the question. He leaned back in his chair, studied Nikolas for a moment. "You've been talking to your brother, haven't you?" When Nikolas opened his mouth to deny it, Stefan shook his head, suddenly looking as tired as he felt.

"All of your life, I've sought to protect you from the Cassadine heritage and in particular the ongoing conflict with the Spencers." He sighed, his eyes falling shut as he tried to find the best way to explain. "I never wanted you involved, nor did I ever want to put you in the position where you might be forced to choose. Lucky and Lesley Lou are your siblings and I've always respected that bond and never wanted to be the one who endangered it . . . but that situation, through none of my doing I assure you, has changed, dramatically so."

And what exactly did that mean? It was now Nikolas' turn to scrutinize his father, noting with an ironic sense of acknowledgement that his father ignored the question entirely. Stefan was more intent on this seemingly hesitant explanation, which hadn't begun to explain how Carly fit into all of this. Biting the inside of his cheek, he merely arched an eyebrow questioningly and waited.

"After . . . Katherine, I promised you that I wouldn't deceive you again, and I want to keep that promise, but I need your word that what I'm about to tell will not leave this room I – no, _we_ are ready."

Nikolas was just able to stop himself from flinching upon hearing _that_ name and instead released an almost shuddering sigh. "You want me to promise to something like that unspoken? "

Stefan shrugged, giving nothing away.

"How can you of all people ask me to do something like that?"

Stefan sighed impatiently. "Nikolas, you have put me in an untenable position. On one hand, you demand to be treated as an adult, yet when I attempt to do so, you then appeal to me as your father. What exactly would you have me do?"

"Telling me the truth for just once would be a good start," Nikolas retorted, stung by the reproof he heard in Stefan's voice.

"That is what I am trying to do. However," he lifted a hand to forestall Nik's cynical rebuttal, "you are not the only one who will be affected by this particular truth. Nikolas, I know how much you despise secrecy, yet I have no other option but to either keep something from you or to share it with you, hoping you'll keep my confidence until the time is right to reveal it. I give you the choice, because I don't want to further damage our relationship, but if you are not certain . . ." His words drifted off. "Trust me or do not, the choice is yours."

Finally, Nikolas reluctantly nodded in assent and his father continued. "This is about your sister."

"Lesley Lou?"

"No. Your, older sister . . . Caroline. Although," and he gave Nikolas an unfathomable gaze, "I believe you know her better as Carly Benson."

* * *

Feeling an empty space next to him, Jason lazily opened one eye to see Carly lounging on a chair, long legs stretched out resting on the end table, phone in one hand, while the other was busy typing something out on a lap top. He propped himself up on one elbow watching her, seemingly intent on her conversation. 

"Oh ye of little faith, Justus. I told you Lila would come through." She paused, looking down at the screen, "So combining that with Jax's shares, which you did get, right?" She glanced over and seeing Jason awake smiled at him, rolling her eyes slightly. "Ok, ok . . . whatever, as long as you got it. That should bring us up to, thirty-five percent, right?" Her smile broadened. "Sweet. I've nothing on the Katherine Bell front . . . Yeah, I know you warned me, but I've got another idea."

Even from where he was, Jason could hear Justus' sigh and he smirked, wanting to hear Carly's latest scheme. "Relax, Justus, this is going to be brilliant, divine retribution, even. I want you to try and get some of AJ's shares." Carly winced as she pulled the phone from her ear for a minute letting him rant. "Hey, you're the lawyer, man. Figure it out, use one of those holding companies or something." She laughed as she pulled the phone away from her ear again, before hearing the dial tone and hanging it up.

Carly glanced over at Jason, still laughing. "Don't you start in on me too, now."

"Do you really expect AJ to sell his shares?" Jason asked idly.

"Well, if he were to suddenly be in need of some cash, I would." She smirked at him, before focusing back on her computer program.

"What are you up to Carly?"

"What makes you think I'm up to anything?"

He laughed. "Because I know you, so are you going to tell or do I get to figure it out on my own?"

"Think you can?" She teased him, jerking her foot back a moment too late.

Holding an ankle in one hand, he raised an eyebrow at her. "Wanna tell me now?"

"Tickling would be cheating, Jase."

"And?" He moved closer to the edge of the bed.

"You better not, I've got a lap top here . . ."

"Yeah, I'd put that down, if I were you."

"You wouldn't!" Carly's eyes widened slightly.

"Wouldn't I?" He tugged just enough to prove his point.

"Jason Morgan," she warned him, quickly moving the computer to a more secure location, "you'd better not dare."

"Now, Carly, how could I resist a dare like that?" Jason quickly slid out of the bed and maintaining his hold on her ankle, scooped her up, ignoring her half-hearted attempt to evade him. Once he had her pinned beneath, one hands holding her hands above his head, the other playing with a strand of hair. "So you were going to tell about your new scheme?"

"No fair, Jase." She pouted, trying to buck him off of him.

"When have you known me to be fair? So tell me, 'cause you know you want to."

She shrugged beneath him. "Well . . . if you really want to know. Lucky and I are working on a thing."

"A thing?" He pushed himself back to look her directly in the eye. "I'm almost afraid to ask."

"Oh come on, this is AJ, whatever he gets, he deserves."

"Carly . . ." He drew out her name impatiently.

She huffed angrily. "Don't you trust me?"

Jason stared at her unblinkingly, waiting for her to crack. He didn't have to wait long.

"Fine," she sighed obviously annoyed with him for spoiling her surprise. "We're just . . . ummm," Carly smiled slyly, "liberating some of his funds and donating them to a better cause is all."

He continued to stare at her, before wincing as if in pain as her words registered.  
"Oh Carly, tell me you aren't."

"See, I knew it! I _knew_ you'd react this way!" She pounced on his reaction, her mood changing on a dime.

Sighing, Jason shook his head, before grabbing his phone. He cursed, getting only voice mail. "Lucky, when you get this, call me." Looking over at a belligerent Carly, he added, "We need to talk."

"Jason . . . " She began, moving onto a new tactic as she placed one and then another knee on the bed, slowly crawling along the bed towards him. "I know it _sounds_ bad, but you need to look at the larger picture."

"The larger picture?" He asked skeptically, leaning back against the headboard, watching her approach. "The larger picture where you and Lucky get caught and possibly arrested? That larger picture?"

Reaching him, Carly settled herself astride him, her hands trailing a path up to his shoulders. "You're just seeing the negative side, and deliberately I might add."

"There's a positive side?" Jason steeled himself against her, determined to resist her until he had made his position very clear.

"Well, of course, Jase." She leaned into him, pressing herself flush against his chest. "Think about it . . . If AJ is low on cash, he won't," Carly dropped an open-mouthed kiss just above his collarbone, "fight for custody and," she left another in the hollow of his throat, "he might be looking to sell some of his stock." She pulled back enough to stare him in the eye. "Nothing but positives – a perfect plan," the words slipped free of her lips as she leaned in, only to be stopped an inch short of his lips.

"It's too risky, Carly, reckless and stupid." And although he spoke softly, he knew from the abrupt stiffening of her body that she heard every word. His hands rose to her upper arms, anchoring her in place, even as she tried to push herself off of him.

"Why?" She demanded to know. "Because it's _my_ idea? I'm not stupid, you know, I covered my ass and checked with Lucky to be sure. AJ might suspect me, but he'll never be able to prove it! Besides, it's too late now. That money is long gone and no one is the wiser." She stared him down defiantly.

Jason closed his eyes as he shook his head in a familiar mixture of frustration and exasperation. "Where's the money, Carly?"

"I gave it to a save the whales fund."

"Whales?" His eyes opened in surprise.

"What?" Carly demanded suspiciously. "I happen to _like_ whales." In the silence that fell as he stared at her dumbfounded, she petulantly added, "They are an endangered species, after all."

"Whales?" He repeated in amazement, before laughing softly as his grip relaxed in a loose caress. "Only you, Carly, only you . . ."

"Oh no," she scoffed and pulling away from him. "Don't even think about it now, Jason Morgan."

"And what is it exactly that I'm thinking?"

"You know _damn_ well what you're thinking! First it was all 'ooohhhh . . . Carly screwed up again and did something stupid' and now you're all . . ." She made a face at him and raised her hands in a gesture of surprise. "You keep saying that you want me to trust you, well maybe you need to trust me a little more. And don't even give me that look, because right now, you are not getting any from me."

Carly was proud of herself for keeping her voice so steady, despite the heat building inside of her, but when he slowly smiled at her like that, she knew she was in trouble. She had to get out of that room immediately before he changed her mind. "Make it up to me tonight and we'll take it from there," she threw over her shoulder as she quickly retreated out the door and more importantly out of his line of sight.

Closing his eyes, Jason let his head fall back against the wall, still laughing. Carly was nothing if not unpredictable and reluctantly acknowledging his abrupt hardness, occasionally frustrating. He could already tell that today was going to be far too long.

* * *

Sitting alone at a table in the Outback, Laura browsed through the menu, confident that she was concealing her awkwardness. When the waitress finally arrived, Laura made a mental not to talk to Felicia about the poor service, although she was really in the mood for a bloomin' onion, she ordered a soup and salad, keeping the calorie count in her head. 

Normally of course, she'd stop by Kelly's for lunch, but at the moment, other than for Elizabeth, she was persona non grata there. When she'd stopped the other day, Ruby had given her the cold shoulder and that was better than she had gotten from the rest of her family.

Laura had no doubt whose fault it was. When this whole thing with Carly blew over, not only would she make sure the Bobbie's spawn was out of the picture, but something would have to be done about Emily Quatermaine. Lucky was far too attached to that willful brat, for her taste and besides Elizabeth was much more suitable of a choice. At least she was respectful and knew her place.

As far Emily was concerned, she almost made it too easy. Once Laura spoke to Monica, she was certain the Quatermaines would take care of the girl. Keeping Carly's dirty little secret was going to be a costly error and with a bit of luck, Monica might very well decide to send Emily off to that boarding school she'd been talking about earlier.

Thinking of Carly and Emily, Laura's face twisted into an ugly frown. Stefan had been his usual difficult self, leaving it up to her to inform the Quatermaines to the truth of that little slut. At first she couldn't believe that he'd actually refuse to help her, but then Amy had told that he's been sniffing around Bobbie again and it all made sense. She made a mental note to talk to Nikolas, because if anyone knew what going on between those two, it would be her other son. Of course, he was still avoiding her but being involved with Robin, she'd knew that she be able to bring him to heel soon enough.

Nikolas may like Bobbie, but once she explained the situation to him, Laura was certain that she could convince him that Stefan's involving himself again with that woman was nothing but a bad idea. That marriage was nothing but obvious reaction to her relationship with Luke, an insulting one at that, and Bobbie's usual desperate attempts to land herself a man, and there was no way she was going to stand for it again.

Looking at the bland salad and rapidly congealing soup, she made a moue of displeasure and pushed it away without so much of a bite. Instead, she busied herself by pulling out her day planner and idly flipping through it.

"Excuse me, Miss, but is this seat taken?"

Startled, Laura glanced up to see a smartly dressed and handsome stranger with an inquisitive smile gesturing to the empty chair across from her. She took a moment to survey the more than half empty restaurant, before giving the more than attractive man a faintly flirtatious smile.

"By all means. I was about to leave anyway."

"Oh please not on my account," he protested, his smile growing wider. "Surely such a lovely woman wouldn't abandon a stranger. Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Simon, Simon Vaughn. And may I be so privileged as to learn your name?"

"Laura Spenser, pleased to meet you." She extended a hand for him to shake, and a hint of color spread across her cheeks as he gently twisted her hand, before kissing the back of it. On a whim, she leaned back into her chair, she's got some time to kill and it never hurt to let someone stroke her ego for a change.

* * *

Still slightly annoyed with Jason, Carly wound up hanging out at Kelly's to cool down, before he sweet talked her back into bed without so much as an apology. As much as she loved him, he could drive her crazy because even though she knew he was on her side, it always seemed like he was so focused on trying to manage her that he forgot she had taken care of herself for years without him. She wanted Jason in her life, but she didn't need him, at least not _that _way. Ditching Johnny to prove her point was childish, sure but at this moment she didn't really care. 

She sighed in frustration, elbow propped on the table, her head resting in the palm of her hand. Times like this, she wished that she and Bobbie were on better terms or that she had a friend, someone who was just on her side. Emily and Lucky were both biased, they liked Jason and would side with him, Bobbie and Luke were useless because they'd both had their own agenda and that was pretty much the short list of people in this town who would give her so much as the time of day.

"Well, if it isn't Carlybabes, herself. . . . What happened, Jason got wise and finally kicked you out?"

Without even bothering to open her eyes, she bit out, "Aww, what's the matter, Sonny? Jealous that Jason's getting some and you aren't?"

"Little girl, we both know that if I wanted you, then you'd be on the floor with your legs spread," his hips pushed into her slightly as he smirked with an ugly expression on his face.

Tilting her head towards him, her mouth opened in shock at his crude intimidation tactic. She viciously glared at him, her quick temper easily igniting. "Never happening, pig!" She spat the words at him, standing up.

"Get real, Carlybabes. This whole town knows you're a slut and sooner or later, Jason will figure out it too and when that happens, you'll be begging me. If I feeling generous, maybe we'll go a round or two." He took a closer step, crowding her against the table, even as she tried unsuccessfully to avoid him.

More anxious that she'd like to admit, Carly decided that maybe ditching Johnny had been a mistake. She glanced around the empty restaurant. Elizabeth and Ruby were in the back doing whatever it was they did back there and wouldn't come unless out front unless they heard something – either the bell at the door or her screaming, which she didn't want to do. The thought of the smug expression on Liz's face would be too humiliating and unfortunately the lunch dinner rush wouldn't start for another two hours.  
Narrowing her eyes, she mentally calculated the distance between her and the door. If she kicked him in the jewels, then she should be able to make it outside before he caught her and if worse came to worse . . . well, she figured that she had a better than average chance to take him . . . maybe and if worse came to worse, she bet he wouldn't try anything if she did scream for help and screaming loud was something she excelled at.

Sonny watched her eyes travel from him to the door and knew she was going to try and make a break for it. Stupid bitch, he thought to himself, realizing her intent. Who did she think she dealing with, some rich dumb fuck like AJ? He laughed slightly as he suddenly clamped a hand painfully on her arm, moving out of the way of her knee, even as he twisted her arm around her back, jerking her up against his chest while his other hand squeezed her throat hard enough to hold her still.

He leaned down to whisper menacingly in her ear, as she opened her mouth, "Don't even think about it, Carly." His hand tightened just enough to make his point. "I normally don't hurt women, but I'm think maybe you like it a little rough, eh?"

Trapped, Carly sneered back, "Or maybe this is how you get your kicks?" She squirmed slightly, testing his hold until she was sure that she couldn't get free, not without breaking her arm at least, so she switched tactics. "Jason will never forgive you if you hurt me, Sonny. You know that."

His low laughter sent chills down her spine. "Where's your guard, huh Carly? I say you ditched him so you could find me and hey it'd be your word against mine. Really, when it comes down to it,_ who _do you think Jason will believe?" He pulled her tighter, molding her body against his.

Sonny's threat cut more deeply then he could've imagined, because while Carly believed in Jason, the fact was he didn't believe in her. No one ever did. The fight they had earlier only proved that again. Even if someone came in, they probably wouldn't believe her either. She felt herself grow limp in his hands as desperately tried to figure a way to get away - away from Sonny, Kelly's, Port Charles, hell her whole damn miserable life – then she felt _it_.

That sonofabitch was actually rubbing himself up against her! Outraged disgust suddenly replaced her hopelessness and instinctively she stomped his foot, as her free elbow slammed into his stomach, painfully wrenching her arm free. She was nearly out of his reach when he caught to her, retaliating by again grabbing her sore arm. His other arm swung out towards her face and Carly closed her eyes, bracing herself for the impact.

* * *

After a long and drawn out morning with Stefan, Nikolas found himself wandering the streets of Port Charles aimlessly. If Stefan was right and Nikolas believed his father was, then he had another sister and, of all people in the world, it was Carly Roberts. Lucky's suddenly embraced cousin, the bane of Robin's, his sometimes girlfriend when she was in the mood, girlfriend and his almost step-sister by marriage who actually _was_ his half-sister. It boggled the mind and he had no idea how he felt about it. 

Stefan had all these plans to bring Carly and Michael (his nephew! And he shook his head at the thought) into the Cassadine family fold and away from any and everyone he viewed as a danger to them. Nikolas laughed in a curious confusion of horror and amazement, seeing the mire of problems entailed in _that _scheme. And Lucky was worried about Stefan going after Carly was going to restart the war between the Spencers and Cassadines? That was merely going to the icing on the cake.

No, this was going to going the whole damn town into chaos!

Not only would they be fighting the Spencers, because Nikolas was certain Luke was going to freak out, the Quatermaines were going to lose any chance of winning custody of Michael and then there was Jason and the whole mob contingent to take into consideration. This was insane and yet . . .

As impossible as his father seemed at times . . . ok, most of the time, Nikolas so rarely ever saw his father express real emotion and never once had he ever asked for Nikolas' help in anything, but this time . . . Stefan wanted Carly in his life, he wanted his daughter and he wanted Nikolas to help. Stefan had sacrificed so much for him; Nikolas didn't see how he could refuse. Nikolas could only try to make this work, but how? He didn't know how to begin to answer that question.

It was so strange. Growing up in Greece as a child, he had been desperate for a sense of family. He had been an orphan, loving his uncle, fearing his grandmother and believing all along that there had to be something more, before eventually snuffing out his dreams and resigning himself to austere life on the island. Years later he came to Port Charles with his uncle, who he learned was actually his biological father, discovered an aunt, found his reluctant mother and his half-brother and sister and now his family had expanded yet again.

His entire childhood had been a lie and he still had difficulty in accepting the how and whys of that fact. It was ironic; the one person who might be best able to relate to his experience was Carly, who was unknowingly still living a lie. Nikolas dealt with learning the truth . . . well, badly to say the least. Getting involved with Katherine had been disastrous and from what little he had knew of Carly, her involvement with Tony had been on the same level.

He smiled mirthlessly. They already had something in common, something other than blood at least. Of course other than that . . . who knows?

Nikolas knew her by sight, considering their overlapping social circles it was impossible not to, but struggled to remember if he had ever even spoken to Carly, before coming to the humbling realization that he never had. On the one or two occasions he might have had the opportunity, he had avoided her on Robin's admonishment. To be honest all he knew of Carly was what he had heard from everyone else and it all fell in one of two extremes.

He looked up to realize that he was approaching Kelly's and glanced through the windows as he walked by, hoping to see Lucky or maybe Em and stopped dead in his tracks. Before he was even able to think about it, Nikolas was through the door and holding Sonny's hand in a harshly implacable grip, more than ready to break his arm if necessary.

"Stay out of this Cassadine. Just turn around and walk out, before you find yourself in a world of hurt," Sonny sneered.

Nikolas' jaw tightened fractionally as he ignored Corinthos' empty threat and easily held the older man back. Carly's panicky eyes opened in stunned shock. He swallowed back his instinctive response, taking a deep breath as he fought to transform his fury into a calmer, cooler and more controlled rage.

"Don't you have anything better do than bully women?" As much as he wanted to rip into the mobster, this was neither the place nor the time to reveal the extent of his anger.

"This is none of your business, so get the fuck out!" Sonny roared, half turning towards the younger man, even as he dragged Carly around with him. His voice echoed through the small diner, drawing out Liz and Ruby and as both Sonny and Nikolas glanced behind the counter, Carly took her chance and viciously sucker punched Sonny.

Nikolas looked back as he felt Sonny stagger against him and he felt a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he watched Carly's victorious smirk that quickly faded when he caught sight of her arm. Four distinctly pale finger sized marks were quickly flushing out to an angry shade of red and his eyes darkened slightly in response.

"Elizabeth . . ." Sonny regained his breath, looked from Carly to her, standing next to Ruby, both of them staring at him equally horrified expressions on their faces. He breathed harshly for a moment, trying to find the best way to smooth this over. "I know what it looks like you saw, but just let me explain . . ." he began.

"I think you've explained yourself enough, Corinthos," Nikolas interrupted him, with a pointed glance towards Carly's arm.

And Carly, not really understanding why the Cassadine got involved was nonetheless quick to back him. "Yeah, don't you have some puppies to kick or cops to harass?"

Her eyes widened even as she held her ground when he lurched suddenly towards her, but was stopped by Nikolas stepping in front of her, while Liz and Ruby stared on in a sort of awed disbelief. Glancing around he saw Liz's shocked expression and Ruby's more repressive one, before ignoring Nikolas and glaring at the Carly.

"This ain't over, Carlybabes, not by a fucking long shot!" He hissed out the words as he grudgingly stalking out of the restaurant, door slamming shut behind him.

Elizabeth in her uniform looked visibly torn and when Ruby reluctantly nodded, she yanked off her apron and ran to the door, stopping just long enough to get a shot in. "I can't believe you Carly, as if what you're doing with AJ and Jason isn't enough, you have to go after Sonny too? You have no shame and you can bet, I'll be telling Jason about this."

"Whatever Liz . . ." Carly muttered to herself as she smoothed back her tousled hair.

Even with back turned, Carly could feel Ruby starring at her, before the older woman loudly sighed. "I guess, I'll go and call Luke. Since Liz took off for god only knows how long, do me a favor and turn the sign to closed. Hopefully, she'll be back before the dinner crowd shows up." Ruby retreated to the back room, leaving Carly and Nikolas avoiding each other.

"And that's my cue to leave, "she commented in the abrupt silence, heading towards the door.

Nikolas was frozen for a moment, before he rushed after her. "Wait a minute, Carly." When she paused to face him, he scrambled to think of something to say, he just couldn't let her run off. Apparently, she was alone and Sonny could be anywhere waiting to pick up where he left off. "Don't you think you should wait for Luke?"

She shrugged at him. "Hey, man, if you want to hang around, then be my guest, but I am out of here." Carly opened the door and walked out and cursing, he followed her.

"Look it's not safe with Sonny running around and – "

"And what?" Carly asked skeptically, arching an eyebrow in challenge. "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the help, but why bother? Isn't helping the blood enemy against the rules or something?"

"Blood enemy?" He repeated ironically, but it was easier that answering her first question.

"Yeah. You Cassadine, me Spencer – is this ringing a bell or anything?" Carly looked at him with a confused expression, taking a hesitant step backwards. As far as she understood it, Helena was the crazy one, but maybe it ran in the family.

Nikolas caught her trying to edge away from him and knew he had to think of something to say fast, before she took off on him, but knew he had to be careful. One way or another she was going to find out the truth and sooner than later if his, no, _their_ father had his way and lying now might destroy their relationship before it ever had a chance to begin.

"Well, maybe that goes for Luke and some other members of my family, but Lucky's my brother and your cousin so . . ." he drifted off. "And besides I'm not all that fond of Corinthos anyway."

Carly eyed him suspiciously for a moment, staring him down, but Nikolas didn't crack and he seemed to telling the truth, but of course in this town who the hell who knew what anyone was up to? And besides it wasn't that far of a stretch that someone else wasn't a diehard Sonny fan . . . so maybe he was on the up an up. "You know," she started walking down the sidewalk, "you're not what I expected."

Falling in step with her, Nikolas countered, "How so?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "For the Prince of Darkness' son _and_ _Robin's friend_, you seem ok," clearly implying which she saw as being worse.

He swallowed back a startled burst of ironic laughter. "Thanks, I guess. You don't seem that bad either for being the town hellion."

Carly gave him a quick sideways glance, as if measuring him, before slyly smirking. "The town hellion? You know, I kinda like that one."

While he figured she wouldn't be that offended the fact that she instead seemed amused by it had him smiling, despite himself. Granted they'd only been actually talking for a few minutes, but much to his surprise, he was actually enjoying himself, something that rarely happened even among people he considered himself to be close to. Even Robin and Lucky, two people he considered his closest friends had this preconceived idea of who he was and how they should act around him that made spending time with them exhausting at times. Whereas, Carly who apparently been warned away from him, and he could guess who that might have been, just didn't see to care.

Maybe, just maybe having her as a sister might not be as miserable as an experience as he had feared.

TBC

Well, I've some dedicated reviewers & I love them dearly, lol. anyone else out there want to say something . . . anything . . . & thanks again for your patience.

It's now official - this storyhas gone **very** **AU**, hopefully, you still are enjoying my take on GH. (although I'm sure it must be making a little more sense now, lol).

This is more along the lines of how I expected Carly's paternity to be resolved anda far more deserving one that the writers chose to give us. Now that we & Stefan know the truth, it should be fun to see how the rest of Port Charles reacts. I've got lots of ideas for this story so if you've gotten this far, leave me a review. It's good karma, you know :D

* * *


	11. Tension Filled Moments

AN - some explanation is needed. This is set in the past, I'm thinking 98-99. definitely before the Sonny/Carly hate sex, a little AU (I've cobbled together both Carly new (the incident with the 'real' Carly's dad and the old (i.e. Virginia) pasts - as best as I could remember) and it's Jason/Carly - my first, last & always OTP (one true pairing).

* * *

Chapter 11 – Tension Filled Moments

Staring up at the Harbor View Towers, Nickolas brooded, torn between an odd mixture of frustration and resentment. He had escorted Carly upstairs, back up to Jason's penthouse, under armed guard and then was himself escorted off of the premises by some mob goon.

He really hadn't gotten much time to absorb everything his father had said beyond Carly being his sister, but he did recall his father's displeasure with her current situation. Considering what he had just witnessed, he was more inclined to agree. Between that low-life thug Corinthos' violent outburst and Carly's more than obvious need for security, something needed to be done.

Through the glass doors in front of him, he could see one of Morgan's goons approaching and with a frustrated sigh, he turned and started walking away. While Carly had been seemingly oblivious, Nikolas certainly noticed the threatening glares he'd received from the guards. Clearly there was more going on here, than what his father had told him, but what was his father keeping from him and why?

He quickly ran through who he could tap for information, those on the very small list who _might_ actually tell him something useful. Robin, Emily, possibly Lucky and possibly his mother, assuming he could bring himself to talk to her. Of course while the chances of getting unbiased information from any of them was slim to none, it still was the best chance he had, unless he was lucky enough to encounter Carly herself again, but that would be equally fraught with complications.

He shook his head in disgust at the situation as he walked on.

"Oh, Nikolas . . ."

An unmistakable voice grated in his ears and resigned, he turned to face the last person he wanted to talk to.

"Hello, mother," the irony in his voice apparently didn't so much as even register to her, as she smiled brightly and approached him.

He stopped as she walked towards him, an unfamiliar man in her tow.

"Nikolas, I'd like to introduce you to Simon Vaughn." She gestured to the man at her side. "Simon, this is my eldest son, Nikolas Cassandine. "

Simon nodded smoothly, "Ah, the Prince. I've heard much about you."

Nikolas' eyes narrowed fractionally as he studied the man in front of him, trying to determine what was ringing false. Casual business attire, a slightly vague European accent and an apparent respectful demeanor . . . perhaps a shade too respectful, he wondered?

A discreet cough alerted him that the man was holding out his hand and he slowly extended his own.

"So Mr. Vaughn, what brings you to Port Charles?

"Work, I must confess, but this assignment is rather open-ended, so I'm sure I'll be seeing you." He glanced at his watch, before turning back to Laura, "And now, my dear, I'm afraid I must take my leave, duty calls and all of that. It was pleasant to meet you . . . Nikolas."

His odd pause and quick departure didn't fail to escape Nikolas' notice.

"Where did you meet him, mother? At the hospital?" Nikolas asked politely.

"Simon?" She laughed. "No, I bumped into him the other day at the Outback."

She walked up along side of him, threading her arm through his. "Enough about Simon though. I was actually hoping to spend some time with you, since we see each other so rarely."

The petulant note in her voice made him want to wince as he wondered if the impending guilt trip was worth whatever scraps of information he might glean.

"You should come by and visit sometimes, I know your sister misses you and Lord knows I do too."

Caught up in his thoughts, he glanced at her startled for a moment. "Oh, Lulu, you mean."

"Well, of course, Lulu. It's not like you have any other sisters." Laura laughed again, albeit a little weaker this time. "Nikolas, are you feeling okay?" She raised her free hand to his forehead. "Well, you don't seem to be feverish, but then again living with Stefan . . . it's not like he's paying much attention to you these days."

Nikolas sighed heavily. "Laura, I do not want to get into a fight with you over my father _again_. If this is what you wanted to talk about . . . " His voice drifted off as he shrugged, pushing down the familiar feeling of resentment.

She clung to his arm tighter. "No, Nikolas, don't shut me out, I'm just concerned about you. With everything going on, I can only imagine how stressed and confused you must be."

"With everything going on?" he repeated incredulously. Oh God, did Laura know too?

"Yes, I know all about your father and Bobbie," she said scornfully. "The absolute last thing you need is to get caught up with Carly and her endless drama."

He stopped and stared at her in disbelief.

Laura nodded knowingly in concern and patted his arm. "I know, I know, sweetheart. I can't believe it either. You'd think Stefan would have learned his lesson last time, but if he wants to get involved with Bobbie again, he should at the very least consider your feelings."

"Wait a second - you think that Stefan and Bobbie are getting back together?" Nikolas shook his head, trying to make sense of what she was saying.

"Well . . . yes." She glanced up at him in confusion. "Aren't they?"

"No, I'm pretty sure that my father would never willingly get involved with Bobbie again," he told her, relieved that she was apparently still in the dark over Carly's actual paternity.

"Really?" She eyed him skeptically. "Maybe he just hasn't told you yet."

"Trust me mother, getting back together with Bobbie is the _last _thing on his mind," Nikolas commented dryly, quirking a satiric smile as he did so.

Laura made a faint moue of disappointment. "Well, that's good then, I suppose, considering everything. . . "

"Everything?" He repeated again, encouraging her.

"Well, yes, with Carly I mean." She looked at him with a conspiring gleam in his eyes.

"Since it's going to be common knowledge soon enough, I suppose that I can tell you now, although I must ask that you keep it between us for now."

She scarcely waited for him to nod in agreement, before she began telling him all the sordid details.

* * *

Carly had just finished taking a shower and getting dressed. She had chosen a long-sleeved shirt, despite the weather, in an effort to help conceal the ugly bruises on her arm that her best application of cover-up failed to completely hide.

Johnny hadn't seen them when he reamed her out for ditching him earlier and it would at least limit their exposure, although Carly was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to hide them very long from Jason, but she'd face that bridge when she came to it. She still didn't think they were _that_ bad, considering other injuries she sustained in the past, but judging from that Cassadine's reaction, she suspected Jason would be beyond pissed.

Which brought up another question, what the hell was up with that?

Nik had seemed pretty decent, considering some of the horror stories Luke had ranted about, but she still couldn't figure out his angle. People didn't exactly just show up to the rescue like that unless they had something at stake and that was what was fucking with her. What did he have to gain from helping her out?

They weren't friends, nor did they even know each other, if anything she would have expected him to have come down on Sonny's side. Aside from the whole Cassadine-Spencer war, her mother had tried to poison, if not kill, _his_ father, for god's sake. Carly knew damn well, she would have held a grudge if she had been in his shoes. Instead he seemed, actually friendly, which was weird.

Maybe she'd ask Lucky about him, she decided as she wandered into the kitchen. Sonny might have ruined her lunch, but she was still hungry. Carly was flipping through take out menus, when she heard the door slam shut.

"Carly, get your ass down here!" Luke's voice boomed though the penthouse.

She sighed to herself. Tossing the handful of menus on the counter, she slowly strolled out to the living room.

"Dare I ask what you're screaming about?" She asked dryly, rolling her eyes as she left the kitchen only to be confronted with her more than irate uncle and an annoyed Johnny.

Luke stormed towards her, his hands reaching out to grab her shoulders. "What the hell is this I hear about you getting into a brawl with Corinthos of all fucking people and then instead of waiting for me or anybody else, you take off with a vampire?!? Have you finally lost your ever-loving mind?"

Holding her in place, Luke carefully scanned her from head to toe, as the initial edge of panic give way to anger.

She gave him a minute, before she shook herself free of his grip.

"Look it wasn't _nearly_ that big of a deal. Sonny was being a pompous ass . . . _as usual_ and yeah, so ok, we got into it, but he started it. Then Nikolas showed up, Sonny left and it wasn't like I was going to hang around after that. I didn't 'take off' with anyone, Nik followed me and we talked. I got home and he left. End of story."

She looked at Johnny hopefully, but judging from the displeased expression on his face, Carly knew she'd get no support from him. If she wasn't lucky, he'd probably start in too for not telling him about Sonny as soon as she had gotten in.

"Oh, did you hear that, Johnny? He started it. Well, that just makes it all better, then doesn't it?" Luke mocked her sarcastically. "What are you twelve or something?" He demanded, not pacified in the slightest by her explanation.

Sick of being yelled at, Carly got right back in his face. "Hey, I don't have to explain myself to anybody, least of all, you, Luke."

"Carly," Johnny cut it, knowing all too well from past experience that if he let them continue, they weren't going to get anywhere fast.

"What?"

"What?"

They both turned and yelled at him in unison, before turning back to each other glaring.

He rolled his eyes, feeling a headache coming on. This was just what he wanted for the day, to be caught between two furious Spencers. When this shit was over and done with, he was definitely putting in a request for some vacation time, somewhere far away from the entire Spencer clan.

"Screaming at each other isn't going do much good. Why don't we sit down calmly and discuss this like rational adults, before Jason gets back?" He asked hopefully.

Hearing the door open behind him, he winced even before Jason asked, "Discuss what?"

Johnny swore softly to himself, even as moved aside to give Jason room, in anticipation of a furious outpouring from the other two occupants of the room.

He wasn't disappointed as they started throwing around accusations, loudly.

Jason watched them quietly for a moment, before his eyes caught the hint of something. Ignoring Luke, he strode up to Carly and snatched her hand from mid-air. He held her wrist in a loose grip as he pushed her sleeve up past her elbow.

There was a dead silence in the room that spoke volumes.

"Get me a washcloth," he demanded in a low, angry voice.

Johnny slowed down slightly as he moved past them, his step quickly increasing as his he glanced over what had caught the boss' attention.

Luke's mouth shut abruptly when Jason glared at him, before focusing back on to Carly's arm. His thumb gently caressing the delicate flesh of her inner wrist as they all waited. Coiling his inner rage, Jason couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes as he studied the faint, but still visible bluish hue of four distinct marks that marred her ivory skin.

Still holding her wrist, he carefully washed away several applications of cover-up and his hand tightened as the full damage was revealed. For a moment, the fingers of his free hand, traced over her swollen flesh, before Jason finally met her eyes with his own.

Carly couldn't quite suppress her gasp at the look in his eyes.

For one brief moment, she wished that she was back at Ruby's with Sonny screaming at her. In an odd sort of way, she was almost comfortable with that sort of casual violence – loud and angry men were something she'd seen all of life and she knew how to deal with them, but the cold rage she could feel radiating off of Jason . . . Her mouth went dry and shook her head, backing away from him.

"Carly . . . Carly." Through the fog of her thoughts, she could hear Jason calling, no more like entreating her.

Johnny and Luke exchanged a concerned glance, while Jason focused all of his attention but on the woman in front of him, staring blankly off into a world he couldn't quite reach.

When it came to his own life, fear had no meaning. He actually hadn't understood the word until this moment – this feeling that froze him to his core, he could finally put a name to it. He now knew that he'd felt in the past, usually whenever she pulled some reckless scam, but never to this extent.

Now he could finally say it, he only hoped it was the right thing to do. Jason stepped forward, closing the gap between them, his free hand sliding through her hair.

"You know, sometimes, Carly, you scare the hell out of me." His eyes closed, as his forehead fell gently against hers.

And it was as if he had found the key that unlocked the doorway to wherever she had retreated to.

Carly blinked and surprised to find herself suddenly in his arms. She tentatively smiled, recalling his words.

"It's only fair, I suppose, considering that you've done your share of scaring me."

She forced herself to look into his eyes and was relieved to see their normal shade of cobalt blue.

Jason stared at her, unsmiling, his hand letting go of her wrist to cup her jaw, his thumb rubbing along her cheek. "Are we ok, now?"

"Always," she teased back perhaps a shade too lightly, ignoring everything except for him.

"Then enough with this sickening lovey-dovey shit, we've got business to discuss," Luke brusquely interrupted. Johnny elbowed him in the stomach, while Luke glared at the other man.

Carly who had forgotten they were even still in the room, tried to pass Jason to get to Luke, but he kept her anchored at his side as he led her to the couch, before pulling her down with him. For that, Jason earned a brief dirty look, before Carly glared back at her uncle. Luke smirked right back at her, enjoying her frustrated outrage as he sat directly opposite of her. Johnny leaned back against the door frame, rolling his eyes at the non-verbal Spencer sparring, and Jason pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Ok," he started slowly, staring at each person in turn. "Anyone want to clue me in?"

* * *

Helena stared at the two men, her calm façade at odds with the air of menace that clung to her. 

"How much exactly am I paying you . . . gentlemen," she sneered.

The younger man looked up with a sense of hopelessly to his older partner.

"Well enough, Madame," the taller one humbly replied.

"Yes, that had been my understanding as well. So explain to me how my granddaughter was not only able to give you the slip, but wound up in an altercation with that low-class thug Corinthos."

The apparent spokesman for two opened his mouth to speak, but was halted by an imperious gesture from Helena.

Andreas slipped into the room, bearing a tray with a steaming copper pot, a tiny cup and assorted other accoutrements. He placed the tray on the table and poured out a small amount of the rich brew, carefully added the think foam and stood at attention. Helena carefully lifted the steaming beverage, breathing in the bouquet, before finally deigning to take a sip. After a moment, she nodded her satisfaction and with a slight bow the servant made his exit.

"Let us clear the air," she began again. "You know who I am, therefore you must also realize the rather fatal penalties for such regrettable lapses in judgment."

The younger man swallowed audibly, one hand rising to adjust his collar.

"However, since no real harm occurred this time, I am inclined to give you second chance. I would strongly recommend that you do _not_ disappoint me again, the consequences would be rather . . . dire."

Sharp hazel eyes held a cruel promise that left both men more than nervous.

"Instead of protecting my granddaughter and great-grandchild, since you are so obviously incapable of that task, I have decided to utilize your 'talents' to something more suited to your forte. I want Sonny Corinthos eliminated as a threat, with all the evidence pointed directly at Jason Morgan. Failure to successfully comply will, of course, be dealt with in the harshest of possible terms."

Her voice lowered dangerously, "Do I need to repeat myself?"

"No, Madame. It will be as you wish," the older man inclined his head respectfully.

She stared at each of them for interminably long moment, before respond. "Excellent," and then Helena dismissively waved them out of the room.

Drinking her tea, she pulled out several surveillance photos, studying them, before choosing a large close-up of Caroline. She imagined that she could see a resemblance between her and Caroline in the eyes. Once again, she though it such a shame that she hadn't learned about the girl until after Mikos' death, but then there was the rather unfortunate affair with Laura Spenser and then the birth of Nikolas . . .

With her beloved Starvos dead, the only heirs left to the Cassadine empire were that mewling Stefan and Nikolas, neither of whom were fit to properly rule. For one brief moment, she had hoped that Nikolas might be brought up to snuff, but Stefan had coddled the boy until he was all but ruined. Helena couldn't stomach the thought of everything resting in their incapable hands, but thought it too soon to bring out her trump card.

After observing the way Stefan subtly corrupted her training of Nikolas, she certainly wouldn't allow him to do the same to his daughter. Over the years she kept her eye on Caroline, waiting until the time was right. The girl was far from perfect, but she showed a certain aptitude for intrigue, which Helena could appreciate.

Sitting back on the sidelines, Helena had done her part. She taken out key obstructions, pulled the right strings and made sure her pawn had safely made it to Port Charles. A sly smile crossed Helena lips as she recalled the way Caroline had out-played the Spencers and managed to integrate herself into the Quartermine family.

It wasn't a connection she would have chosen for a Cassadine daughter, even a bastard one, but taken from Caroline's limited perspective, it was a near-perfect strike. This involvement with Morgan, despite his pedigree would have to be ended, of course, particularly now that the new heir was born. The neophyte mobster had thwarted her once before, when her granddaughter had been incarcerated in that sanitarium, forcing her release mere hours before Helena herself had been planning to assume custody.

This time the outcome, however, would be a far different one.

The ring of her private line interrupted her musings. The voice on the other line melted away the slight frown that begun to develop. "Ah, Simon, making progress I hope?"

She paused for a moment, listening to his response, before laughing slightly. "Excellent work."

* * *

After listening to Laura, Nikolas found himself inside of Jake's. He ignored the various looks he received from the occupants as he walked up to the bar and ordered a double shot of whiskey. The young Cassadine tossed it back easily, relishing the unfamiliar alcoholic burn and quickly ordered another. 

Watching the kid get drunker by the moment, Jake made an executive decision and got on the phone.

Nikolas never even noticed.

Twenty minutes later, Lucky wandered and stared at his brother in disbelief. He almost hadn't even showed, convinced it was a mistake or a practical joke, but no such luck. Shaking his head, he made his way to his brother's side.

"Hey man, you ok?" He asked, sitting in the closest bar stool.

Nikolas laughed mirthlessly, not even sparing him a glance. "I'll be better after a few more shots. You?"

Lucky's brow furrowed in confusion. "Ummm, yeah, but I'm not the one trying to get smashed either," he pointed out.

Nikolas mock saluted him with an unsteady hand, amber liquid spilling free of the glass, before he chugged it. He slammed it back on the counter, ordering the bartender to keep them coming.

Lucky met the bartender eyes and drew a line across his throat. "Ok, man. Why don't we settle your tab and go somewhere and talk this out."

"_Talk_?" Nikolas repeated incredulously, nearly falling off of his stool. "_Now_ you want to talk?"

He carefully corrected himself, shaking off Lucky's arm, even as he turned to stare at his erstwhile brother in cynical sort of amusement. "Seems like that's all anybody wants to do lately, whether I want to hear what they have to say or not. No, Lucky the time for talk is over . . . it's time for action now."

"Ok, you're going to have to clue me in, man, 'cause I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about." Lucky stared back at him.

Nikolas laughed again. "But that's the funny part, _man_, 'cause you do and you don't."

Lucky rolled his eyes, wondering how many shots Nikolas had downed before he arrived. "Nothing worse than a drunk," he spoke under his breath, thinking of his father.

"Yeah, well you would know, comes with those charming Spencer genes as I recall." Nikolas snickered for a moment, before seemingly sobering up.

Insulted, Lucky glared at him. "Look, if you're going to be an asshole, man, I'll just take off, but don't come crying to me when you get your ass kicked here." He stood up abruptly.

"I spoke to Laura earlier, or, rather, she spoke to me." Nikolas' voice was suddenly as somber as Lucky had ever heard it. "You've lived with her all of your life, Lucky, so tell me. Was she always such a vindictive bitch?"

Lucky turned back in surprise to see Nikolas staring into his empty glass. Of the many things that sprang to mind, the only word he could say was, "What?"

"When I was on the island, you know I read so many stories which never made sense to me considering how Helena treated Stefan and I thought, you know, maybe it was her. Maybe there was something wrong with her. Then I came to Port Charles and met Laura, my . . . no, _our_ mother and you know it's more than obvious that she hates the sight of me -"

"No, she doesn't _hate_ you, man." Lucky's outrage faded into a resigned sort of pity and he felt compelled to interrupt Nikolas' drunken rambling.

"I didn't say that she hated me," he dryly pointed out, "although I don't believe that is too far from the truth, I said she hated the sight of me. And on one hand, I can't blame her, I guess, after all I am the living reminder of what happened on the island, but that wasn't my fault, you know."

He looked up at his brother, almost pleading for some kind of redemption. "I mean what Starvos did wasn't my fault, anymore than Luke raping Laura wasn't your fault or what that sonovabitch did to Carly wasn't her fault, either, right?"

"What?" Lucky breathed and it was as if something in his mind shut down. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

The next thing either of them knew, Lucky had hauled Nikolas to his feet, fists tightly clenched in the Cassadine's shirt.

"What the fuck did you say about my parents?" He demanded again, his rage knowing no bounds.

Nikolas stared at Lucky blankly, his eyes wide and glassy. "Huh?"

"My father did _NOT_, would not, _ever_ rape my mother!" He jerked the other man even higher in the air.

Nikolas blinked as Lucky's words penetrated his muddled consciousness and he groaned, his chin falling to his chest, finally realizing exactly what he had said. Ok, so in hindsight, maybe it wasn't the best analogy under the circumstances, but that didn't explain . . . unless . . . and that was when it struck him.

Lucky didn't know, oh god, somehow he didn't know.

Nikolas couldn't understand how it was possible, but it was only thing that made sense. Drunk and stupid as he might be, he understood that he had just stumbled into a huge landmine and didn't have a clue how to extricate both them from it.

"Oh fuck . . . I'm sorry, Lucky. I'm drunk as hell and I don't even know what I'm saying."

"I don't give a damn how drunk you are," Lucky sneered. "How fucking dare you? My father is a Spencer, not a damned Cassadine rapist."

Despite the sudden burst of umbrage, Nikolas forced himself to hold his tongue and instead of retaliating, attempted to cajole his brother.

"I didn't mean anything by it, I swear to you, Lucky. I'm sorry, I misspoke. Laura just started going off on Carly, telling me all the vicious stories, how she was going to tell the whole town and I just sort of lost it."

Lucky stared at him suspiciously, but finally set him back on his feet.

"What the fuck are you babbling about now?" He demanded guardedly, his fist still clenched as if waiting for an opportunity.

Nikolas stepped back cautiously, not wanting to further antagonize him.

He shrugged. "She told me about Carly's past, before she came to Port Charles, and how she was going to use that information to make sure that Carly lost custody of Michael."

"And since when do you give a damn about Carly?" Lucky snarked back, leaning back against the bar, his arms folded against his chest.

It was as if by some unspoken declaration, they mutually agreed to ignore the last few tension-filled moments.

"Since I had to get between her and Corinthos at Ruby's this afternoon," Nikolas countered.

"What?" Lucky spit the word out violently, his still simmering rage suddenly presented with a new target.

"Yeah," Nikolas nodded. Relieved they now had a common enemy. "And he wasn't too pleased to see me either. I was too late to keep him from grabbing her, but I was able to get her away from him."

"You are fucking _kidding_ me," Lucky ground out. All the anger he'd been repressing from nearly the start of this conversation welled to the surface as he explosively kicked the bar.

Jake who had walking by, brusquely pushed him aside to inspect the damage. She stood up, casting him a quick sideways glance.

"Dumb luck, Spenser. Now, if you had kicked it any harder, I'd have you both in the back, washing dishes 'til you covered the repair bill. Instead, why don't the two of you, pay the tab and then get the hell out of here, before I get busted for serving minors. You wanna drink, go trash your dad's club in the future or at least until you're legal."

She grabbed Nikolas' empty shot glass and walked past them, without a backward look.

Staring at each other, Lucky sighed. "Come on, man, I think that's our cue."

TBC

Well, I've some dedicated reviewers & I love them dearly, lol. anyone else out there want to say something . . . anything . . . & thanks again for your patience.

It's now official - this story has gone **very** **AU**, hopefully, you still are enjoying my take on GH. (although I'm sure it must be making a little more sense now, lol).

This is more along the lines of how I expected Carly's paternity to be resolved and a far more deserving one that the writers chose to give us. Now that we & Stefan know the truth, it should be fun to see how the rest of Port Charles reacts. I've got lots of ideas for this story so if you've gotten this far, leave me a review. It's good karma, you know :D


	12. Explosive

AN - some explanation is needed. This is set in the past, I'm thinking 98-99. Definitely before the Sonny/Carly hate sex, a little AU (I've cobbled together both Carly new (the incident with the 'real' Carly's dad and the old (i.e. Virginia) pasts - as best as I could remember) and it's Jason/Carly - my first, last & always OTP (one true pairing).

I know this chapter is a bit late, but I had serious family issues & then the chapter never really wanted to seem to end, so it's a bit longer than usual to make up for the delay.

* * *

Chapter 12 – Explosive

Emily sat on one of the steps leading into the boxcar and watching Lucky pace back and forth in front of her. "Look Lucky, you asked me to come down here, so here I am. Are you actually going to talk to me or just try and make me dizzy?"

She paused, but when he still refused to respond, she stood up. "If you're just going to ignore me, then I'll take off. Call me when you feel like actually talking, ok?"

It took a few moments before her words actually penetrated through to him and startled, Lucky glanced up only see her walking away.

"Come on, Emily, wait up a minute will you?" He called out as he took off after her.

"What is the point, Lucky? If all you're going to do is pace around and ignore me, then you can do that on your own time. I snuck out the house to hang out with you and I'm not going to risk getting busted if you're not even going to talk to me," she tossed over her shoulder as she continued walking.

"Of course I'll talk to you . . . don't be like this, Em."

She slowed down a bit and allowed him to catch up to her. Lucky, walked up until he faced her and rested his forehead against her for a moment.

"I'm sorry, you're right. I was acting like an ass. It's just been a rough day, ok?"

She stood stiffly under his hands until she looked up into his eyes and saw the obvious pain there and softened slightly.

"Ok, Lucky, but I can't help you if won't tell me what's going on."

"Yeah, I know." He shrugged ruefully, before grabbing her hand and leading her back to the boxcar.

"Nik just drives me crazy sometimes."

"Well, he is your brother, I'm pretty sure that it's in the job description somewhere. And you know, it could always be worse, you know. Wanna trade Nik for AJ or Jason?" She smirked in satisfaction, seeing a faint smile light up his face.

"AJ, you can keep, but I'd definitely trade you Nik for Jason."

"Yeah?" She pretended to debate it for a minute, before quickly adding, "Nah, I think I'll keep him, sorry."

Once they reached the boxcar, she sat back down again, dragging Lucky along with her. "So give it up, what did Nik do now?" She demanded.

Lucky stared off into the setting sun for a long moment. "Well, it all started off, when I got a call from Jake's, where apparently Nikolas was working on getting smashed."

"Nikolas getting drunk?" Emily repeated in confusion.

"Yeah," Lucky laughed bitterly. "The 'good' brother, who would have thought, right?" He shrugged. "He got caught up in Carly drama, apparently she picked a fight with Sonny for only god knows why and he broke it up. Then he bumped into Laura and she told him everything you told him and that sent him off on a bender."

"Whoa back up a minute," Emily turned to him with a look of disbelief. "You're going to have to explain all of that."

"Well, I'm not too clear on the details myself, I mean, he _was_ pretty wasted by the time I showed up. But what I could get from him was that he was walking past Ruby's when he saw them fighting and reasons known only to himself, he decided to get involved."

"Afterwards he walked her back to the towers and then wind up getting all the gory details from Laura, which set him off in a major way. And then when I finally did get a hold of him, he was talking crazy, Em, like really out of nowhere shit."

Lucky's head fell forward into his hands, elbows propped up on his knees. Frustrated didn't even begin to come close to how he was feeling. He was just so fucking pissed off.

Pissed off at Carly for being so stupid, pissed off at Sonny for putting so much as a godamned hand on her, pissed at his mother for turning traitor, pissed off at his dad because Nikolas' bs actually got to him, pissed off at Nik for getting drunk and spouting bullshit in the first fucking place, pissed off at Johnny and Jason for letting Carly out of their sight when they both knew better and mostly pissed off at himself for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and taking it out on the only person he wasn't pissed off at.

Sighing, Emily stared at him for a long moment, seeing the visible tension in him. As much as she wanted more details about Carly and Laura, she hadn't spent the past few years living with the Q's and being Lucky's best friend, without learning when and when and when not to push something. She inched closer to him and wrapped one arm across his shoulders. "Ok, Lucky, so what did Nik say that has you so upset?"

When he continued to stare aimlessly at the ground, she sighed again louder this time. "Ok, don't tell me, but you know that I will figure it out, right? Either you'll break down and tell me, or I'll make Nik tell me, but either way, I will figure it out."

One hand reached up to play with his hair, "Of course, if you tell me now, then you get the benefit of my all-knowing knowledge and experience," she tempted him in a light voice.

"All-knowing knowledge and experience, huh?" He finally forced himself to respond, with a teasing smirk, twisting his head to look up at her. "I'm almost afraid to ask what you know that I didn't teach you."

With a faint shake of her head, Emily subtly let him know that although she was going to drop it for now, this subject wasn't over yet, before she got more into the spirit of the conversation.

"Well aside from shopping, which by the way your cousin has given me one helluva a crash course in shopping along the way and of course the glory that is purple popsicles, which I do believe that I taught to you, Mr Know It All, there is always my personal favorite – the best way to cure a brooding Lucas Lorenzo Spencer Jr."

"Umm, who's that again?" He asked in mock confusion.

Emily smirked. "You are _such_ a brat, you know that?" She teased him back, before reaching out to brush his longish blonde hair out of his eyes and tilted his face up to hers, before she leaned in for a long kiss.

* * *

Eventually, Nikolas dragged himself back home for lack of anywhere to go. Truthfully, he didn't want to see anyone, least of all Stefan, but when he heard his father calling out his name, he knew that once again, he was going to get much of a choice in the matter. 

"I don't suppose we can do this sometime tomorrow?" He responded tiredly.

"No, we cannot." Stefan's clipped tone had Nikolas opening his eyes wider to see his father's flinty stare.

With an overly exaggerated sigh, he stumbled around the large furniture in the drawing room, before he was able to seat himself.

"Drunk, are we?" Stefan's voice was all but dripping with obvious disapproval.

"Well, I did try, but it seems doomed to interference lately," Nikolas commented laconically.

Stefan glared at him momentarily, before abruptly changing the subject. "Why did you not immediately inform of the fight that transpired between your sister and Corinthos? I had thought we were united on this point."

"I had every intention of telling you." Nikolas sat up straighter now, visibly more aware. "Under the circumstances, I thought it best to escort Carly back home to the penthouse and was on my way to speak to you, when I ran into my mother . . ." His voice trailed as he met his father's eyes, with more than a trace of accusation.

"Why did you not inform me of Carly's history?" He twisted Stefan's words into his own demand.

Stefan's face took on a painfully frustrated expression as he leaned back. "So she told you then?" He asked rhetorically.

"Oh, she couldn't wait to tell me," Nikolas scoffed bitterly.

"It wasn't that I deliberately kept it from you, Nikolas," he began reluctantly.

"The details, as I'm sure you learned, are ugly and to be honest I'm having trouble accepting them myself, under the circumstances. I had every intention of telling you soon, but felt that I had already burdened you with enough information, without adding to it. I just wanted to give you a chance to come to the terms with that fact that you suddenly had an older sister, before explaining her painful history."

"I had the _right_ to know!" He lashed out angrily.

"And you think _I_ didn't?" Stefan retorted just as furiously.

He abruptly stood up and began pacing. "Caroline might be your half-sister, but do not forget that she is _my_ daughter and not only was I denied any role in her life, I wasn't even told of her existence. If Barbara and that bastard brother of hers were unwilling to provide for and protect her, for whatever despicable reasons they may have had then that was their choice, but there was no reason justifiable enough to refuse _me_ the right to protect my only daughter."

Nikolas stared at his father, the last vestiges of alcohol quickly metabolizing through his system.

It had been years since he had seen Stefan in such a state of cold rage and it had been only once, directed towards Helena.

He vividly remembered being so afraid that his beloved uncle, - no, he mentally corrected himself, his father – was going to kill his grandmother and she just barely escaped with her life, but she never again dared to raise a hand to Nikolas. To this day, he was convinced that the only reason Stefan had relented was because as evil as Helena was, she was still Stefan's mother, but Barbara and Luke would have no protection, save being related to Carly.

As outraged and angry as he was because of their actions, he remembered his discussion with Carly and didn't think that she would appreciate their deaths – and even thinking along those lines was enough to make him take pause. Nikolas refused to acknowledge that his father might go that far, but it was more than obvious that he was planning _something_.

"What are you planning?" He bluntly asked.

"Because as angry as you are, you can't forget that they are in Carly's life now and considering her relationship with Michael's birth father, she may be more sympathetic to Bobbie than you would expect."

"AQ Quatermaine?" Stefan scoffed, shaking his head derisively.

"It is two completely different situations. AQ was trying to take the child from his mother and after that entire debacle with Tony Jones's kidnapping my grandson, who would blame your sister for fearing him? Not that Barbara or Spenser have done much for Caroline, in either regard - they stood by as if they were completely disinterested parties. Yet another grievance to add to my many against them at this point."

Stefan turned back to Nikolas with a disgusted expression on his face. "It is ironic that out of this entire debacle, the one person I end up being grateful to is Jason Morgan, since despite his many flaws and being little more than a street thug, he alone has provided any amount of protection to Caroline and her child from the Quatermaines, the law and psychiatric hospitals alike."

"What am I planning, you ask? All I want is justice for our family, Nikolas. Timoria, in the truest sense of the word, for those who have or would stand against us – that includes the Quatermaines, Tony Jones, Corinthos, the Spensers, my mother should she prove to be an enemy and even Jason Morgan, should he be exposed as an interference."

Nikolas eyes widened . . . . this was going to be worse than even he thought.

* * *

Walking up though the door, Robin ran forward to embrace Sonny 

"Sonny, I am so sorry." At his quizzical look, Robin was quick to add, "about Carly, I mean. Liz called me earlier and told me all about how she was all over you like that. How disgusting . . ."

Robin rolled her eyes. "Have you told Jason yet?" She asked eagerly.

"Ah . . . no, not quite yet actually." He slowly responded, looking at her warily.

She frowned up at him, "But why not?" Robin pulled back from him slightly. "Telling Jason about how she came on to you would have been the perfect opportunity to prove to him that she is nothing more than a slut."

"First she shows up out of nowhere and sleeps with her own mother's husband, than sinks her claws into Jason, regardless of the fact that she is taking blatant advantage of his condition," her voice lowers slightly before picking up speed again," or the fact that he was a girlfriend, then cheats on Jason and Tony to have a drunken one-night stand with Jason's own brother and now she tried to cheat on him again with you . . ."

"The way she has got him believing every lie she tells is so sick," Robin grimaced, before her expression brightened as she smirked. "We should go over and tell him right now."

Sonny felt a sudden impulse to throw something across the room in frustration, but instead settled for pouring himself a stiff shot of tequila and a slow but deep pull off of it. He had no intention of going over to Jason's tonight for the same reason, he hadn't spoken to him since his encounter with Carly - it wasn't that he was _afraid_ of Jason, so much as he was worried that little bitch had poisoned his protégé against him.

Unfortunately, he'd seen it a lot in the business, made guys who rose up through the ranks together and fell out over some broad who couldn't keep her legs shut and he had no intention of letting that happen between him and Jason. The idle though of at least not yet continued that unspoken sentence, but he quickly pushed it out of his mind.

Jason was his underboss and in some ways, even more powerful in the organization than he was and until he got that back under control, Sonny wasn't about to risk a full-blown confrontation. And definitely not over this bitch . . .

Sonny knew that Carly would had already run crying to Jason and the kid was just too naïve to know better. After all, Sonny had taught him everything he knew about loyalty and never bothered to warn him about manipulative sluts like Carly, because when Jason had been with Robin there was no need. He blamed himself for the situation, Jason had done such an excellent job business wise, while he'd been away that he'd left the day to day work up to the kid, but he regretted not taking action against Carlybabes sooner.

"Yeah, I hear what you're saying, but I don't think it's the right time," he blurted out, after realizing that he had gotten caught up in his thoughts and Robin was staring at him.

When it looked like she was going to argue with him, he held up a hand and added, "Robin, you know she's going to over there, crying about how horrible I was to her and her usual pack of lies. If we go over there it's just going to turn into an ugly screaming match that's not going to do us any good. It's better to give Jason some time to cool down and catch him when he's not with her, telling him more lies."

"Nah, it's just not worth it now and it might make things worse. Once he see the truth about her, it's gonna be hard enough for him, without angry words between us."

Robin's mouth formed a downward moue of displeasure, but she reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"Now, come on," Sonny smiled. "Let's not let Carlybabes spoil our night. We got reservations for the best Italian food in Port Charles waiting on us."

He tossed back the dregs of his shot and walked towards the door, waiting for her to follow.

* * *

Jason was remarkably calm about the whole thing in retrospect . . . far too calm for Carly's liking. In sharp comparison to Johnny's outburst of creative cursing and Luke's loud ranting, Jase was as low-spoken as ever. She paced around her room, unable to lie down as he had suggested. Never mind the dim light coming through the window, how was she supposed to sleep under the circumstances. Carly couldn't help but feel like the victim, Luke had made her sound like and it was pissing her off. Cowering behind any man, even her uncle, Johnny or Jason went against the entire way she had lived her life and she wasn't going to start now. And if they seriously thought she was going to play the little lady, to their "big strong men," then they were out of their collective mind. 

Her mind made up, Carly slipped out of the bedroom and silently crept towards the staircase, making sure to stay out of sight and eavesdropped.

"So what did you get from the little prince?" Luke demanded. "Because I know what I got from Ruby and I didn't like it one damned bit and she only caught the tail end of the fight."

Johnny shrugged, "Then you probably know more than I do, because I didn't hear about any of it until Carly gave her version of the story."

"Are you fucking _kidding_ me?" Luke fumed, turning on Jason. "_This_ is the protection," his thumb angrily angled toward Johnny, "that you have in place for my niece?"

"Yeah, it is," Jason shortly replied, trying to rein in his temper.

"You know Carly as well as anyone, Luke, and you know if that if she wants to slip her security then she's going to do it. Besides before you get on your Spenser high horse, remember that it wasn't all that long ago that you were threatening your niece's life too, so keep that in mind before you jump down my guy's throat."

"Johnny fucked up, but he knows it and it won't be happening again, right, Johnny?" His voice brooked no disagreement and Johnny was quick to nod silently.

Luke opened his mouth to retort, but before he got the chance there was a quick knock at the door and Lucky walked through it.

Glancing at the angry faces in front of him, Lucky himself grimaced.

"Guess that means you guys already heard about Sonny roughing up Carly then?"

"Yeah, Cowboy, but who you'd hear it from?" Luke switched gears, his eyes widening slightly as he took in the familiar smell of whiskey.

Lucky stared his father down for a moment, Nik's accusations still lingering in his mind before he shook the memory off, and directed his response to Jason.

"I bumped into a very drunk Nikolas, who was just full of interesting stories about Carly. Is she ok?"

Jason cut in. "She's got a nasty bruise and was more shaken up then she was letting on, but claims she's fine now."

He shrugged, as if to say 'that's Carly for you,' looking as frustrated as he felt. "What did Cassadine have to say?"

"Well, he was more pissed off then I've seen him in awhile, in the process of pushing Carly's buttons, Sonny also must've pushed a few of his."

Lucky stalked off to the nearest couch, before flinging himself into it, his feet braced on the floor.

"Well, Sonny didn't pull his punches that's for sure, but then again, neither did Carly."

"And that means?" Johnny dryly asked.

Lucky smirked. "According to Nik she sucker-punched Corinthos, but," his expression darkened, "of course that was _only_ after Nik got into between them and stopped Sonny from hitting her."

"That goddamned sonovabitch . . ." Luke cursed.

"Yeah, apparently Nik saw Sonny grab her through the window and by the time he got inside, Carly had broken free, but Sonny had caught up with her again and was dragging her around. He was cursing her out and started threatening both of them."

Luke turned back to Jason, "So what are you going to do about him Morgan? I am not going to sit by while he threatens and manhandles Carly," the older man snarled.

"What and you think I am?" Jason sharply retorted.

"Believe me, Sonny is more than going to get what is coming to him before I'm through with him, but don't forget that we've got other problems here too."

He focused back on Lucky. "You know Cassadine the best, Lucky . . . Why would he even get involved?"

"Damned if I know." Lucky shook his head. "It's weird. Nikolas doesn't put himself out for anybody he doesn't know and not even then sometimes."

"He's usually tight with Robin and we all know how she feels about Carly and Sonny, not to mention that he isn't exactly a big fan of yours after that whole drive-by shooting deal. If anything I would have expected him to walk by without a second glance or to even come in on Sonny's side."

He paused, looking up at Jason seriously. "But then it gets even stranger. After he brought Carly back here, he bumped into our mother and between her and Sonny, I'm not sure who he was more pissed off at when I found him."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, normally, Nik goes out of his way to try and make Laura happy, but he was talking crazy . . . None of it really made any sense to me."

He glared at his father for a moment, torn between asking his about what Nik had blurted out and denying the slightest possibility of it being true, because of course it wasn't. It couldn't be, end of story.

"Yeah, so what did the little prince say about your mother?" Luke demanded in the sudden silence. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he didn't like the vibes he was getting off of his kid.

Lucky shook his head again, pushing it out of his mind. "Well, from what he said, Laura is definitely not keeping what she heard from Em a secret and he was really pissed about that – both what he heard and the fact that she told him. Which again makes no sense, since he doesn't even know Carly, so why would he even care?"

"And when you add that into Stefan's sudden interest in Carly and Bobbie's freak out . . . I don't know what the hell any of it means."

"It means that somebody had better tell me what the fuck is going on!"

Carly's flat demand had everyone's head turning to the staircase as she stood in the landing, beyond pissed.

* * *

Nikolas was even more concerned when Alexis showed up. While Stefan had always had a soft spot for her, there was also the fact that she had unknowingly defended the kidnapper of her own grand-nephew, but Nikolas hoped that Stefan wasn't planning to hold that against her, under the circumstances. 

"So what is the big emergency this time?" She questioned somewhat flippantly, her annoyance clearing showing at being abruptly summoned to Wyndmere at this late hour.

She placed her briefcase at her feet as she sat down. "Has Helena suddenly reappeared?"

"As a matter of fact, she has, but that isn't my primary concern at this moment," Stefan replied in a low and restrained voice.

Alexis looked up at him, startled for a moment, before glancing over at Nikolas seated across from her.

His shrug and blank expression gave her no further information, so she waited anxiously for whatever bomb her brother had to drop.

"I have recently come into some troubling information and I need your particular knowledge and skills to begin to right a long injustice. As this is an intimately family concern, I trust that you will assure me it will go no further than this room until I am ready to go public with it."

Stefan restlessly paced in front of her, each step as tightly controlled as the next, as he waited for her agreement.

"Of course, Stefan, whatever you need," was her rushed reply.

Alexis had no idea what he was talking about, but after the debacle of Katherine Bell, she would take whatever opportunity was offered to mend the breach between her and her family.

He shook his head in displeasure. "I need your word, Natasha, because what I am about to tell _cannot_ go further than between you, Nikolas and myself. You can't breathe a word of it to anyone and that includes your _misalliances_," he sneered the word, "with both Luke Spencer as well as Edward Ashton."

She jerked back in response to that unwavering declaration. "What does that mean?" She asked unsteadily.

"Just what it sounds like, sister of mine. What I have learned will affect them both either directly or indirectly, and I need to know for certain whether you are truly loyal to your family or if you will choose to betray both myself and Nikolas. This is your last opportunity to make such amends," he spoke in the same resolute tone he began with.

As the seconds passed, Alexis knew Stefan was deadly serious, but how could she possibly make such a decision with so little information. Based as much as what Stefan had said, as well as what he hadn't bothered to, she knew this was the crucial moment, where she would determine the lot of her life – either thrown in with the Cassadines for life or with the friends and relationships she had made outside. She directed her attention on Nikolas, trying to get some sense of what this was about, but his expression gave nothing away.

"Do not look to Nikolas for support," Stefan dryly cut into her thoughts with icy directness. "He is fully aware of what is at stake in this matter and will stand next to me as family should in doing what needs to be done. My patience with you grows shorter by the moment, make your decision and give your word or walk out of her tonight, completely on your own in the world."

Her eyes stayed focused on Nikolas, who after an ever so slight pause, reluctantly nodded his head in agreement. And Alexis felt her heart sink to somewhere in her stomach.

Praying that she was making the right choice, she deeply swallowed, before quietly whispering, "Ok, then. If it's my word you need to prove myself to you, then it is my word that you have."

Stefan stared at her for a long moment and as she finally met his eyes, Alexis could feel him sifting through her soul, before he slowly nodded in satisfaction. "Very well, then, just remember, Natasha, betray me in this matter and you'd better pray that Helena finds you before I do, because I'm sure that even she would be more merciful," he warned her menacingly.

His pacing came to a gradually stop in front of her and she stared up, wondering if she had made a fatal error, when his next demands took her by surprise.

"First I need you to sign over your shares in ELQ to me, you may set the price at whatever you think fair and then I need you to tell me everything you remember about Caroline Spenser. I am particularly interested in the details of Jones case and the recent meeting you had with Caroline, Jason Morgan & AJ Quatermaine."

* * *

Across the street from the No Name, two familiar figures stood in the shadow of a building, nearly invisible in the dark. They had chosen their location carefully in accordance to Madame Cassadine's orders. Not only would the car bomb take out Corinthos, but the public spectacle in the heart of a Mafia-owned property would go far in incriminating Jason Morgan. 

The taller of the two smiled in satisfaction as he watched Corinthos and his piece of fluff walk towards the car.

"This had better work," the shorter man spoke nervously, pulling his coat closer in the chill air.

"Just watch," the taller man confidently replied. "If there is one thing I know, and know well, it's explosives. That car will definitely detonate as soon as the ignition is started. It's fool-proof."

"For both of our sakes, I hope so."

The second man waved off his more uncertain companion as he watched Corinthos open the door for the dark-haired girl, before walking around to the other side, even as the driver slid behind the wheel, with a small grin of satisfaction.

At that moment, a man hurried from the entrance, calling Corinthos back.

The taller man's mouth opened in a mute denial as the car's engine turned a split-second before the car ignited in a fiery explosion.

"Ok, now, we're just fucked," the other man commented prosaically.

Still watching the ensuing fallout, the taller man scoffed in disbelief as he saw their target haltingly stagger to his feet. "You think?"

"Maybe we should just finish him off here?" The other man asked hopefully.

"Yeah, us and what army?" The taller man demanded as they watched the parking lot was rapidly filling up with wise guys and all the women not married to them.

"We get any closer, packing heat and we're dead men for sure. Nevermind all the witnesses that we don't have enough bullets to cover, these guys see us pull a weapon and we're done."

"We go back to that bitch and tell her that we fucked up and we're still dead," his companion shrugged.

"Personally, I'd rather take our odds here."

"Yeah, well we did get his piece of fluff so that should be worth something and with any luck he'll go after Morgan, so we'll be in the clear," the taller man commented as he opened the driver's side door.

The shorter man laughed, leaning against his side of the car. "You think it'll be that easy? Look, you're not from around here, so lemme lay it out for you."

"That 'piece of fluff' we just wacked was the police commissioner's daughter and if that wasn't bad enough, if this does turn into a gang war, not only are the police gonna be all over this, but that Carly chick and her kid that the crazy Russian bitch is so interested in are going to be target number one."

He sobered up as he heard the distant sound of sirens. "Face it, man, we're fucked."

* * *

Carly stood there and stared down them all down, before she strolled downstairs, as lithe as a huntress stalked her prey. Dark brown eyes searching any possible vulnerability, before she chose her target. She moved past the three standing men to sit down next to her cousin. 

"So, Lucky, now what was it you were saying about Bobbie?"

"Oh . . . Fuck," was the collective first thought on everyone's mind, but only Lucky actually spoke it as he glanced over at his furious cousin.

"Now it isn't what you're thinking, Carly," Luke tried to interject, only to be cut down by an incendiary glare.

"Don't believe that I was talking to you, Uncle Luke, so shut the fuck up and let me and Lucky talk, ok?" She bit out, centering her attention back onto her cousin.

"So now, you were saying, Lucky," she encouraged him enthusiastically, seemingly oblivious to the note of steel running through her words, but whatever he might have said was interrupted by the sudden ring of a cell phone.

Jason swore quietly as he dug his phone out of his pocket, even as Johnny glanced at him, just before _his_ cell phone went off. Without a word, they separated, Johnny moved towards the door, while Jason moved off to the kitchen area, his gaze squarely focused on Carly.

Very aware of the rising tension in the room, Luke tried to distract Carly, but instead she stared down Jason from across the room, watching his growing agitation with concern.

He gave short monosyllabic responses, before snapping the phone shut a moment later, in sharp contrast to Johnny's explosive cursing and demands for more information.

Jason stood very still for a moment, before turning to the small end table now in front of him. One arm abruptly swung out, sending a small collection of Waterford crystal shattering to the floor. Carly's eyes suddenly widened as she jumped to her feet and rushed over to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and pressing against his back, her head resting on his shoulder.

Jason turned in her arms, even as he turned them both in a forty-five degree angle, so no one other than Carly could see his expression. His eyes flickered open for a brief moment and the devastated expression in them stole her breath away . . . Everything else in her life fell away to the wayside in that second and she pulled his head down to her shoulder even as she held him even closer to her.

One hand rose higher on his back, rubbing in small circles the way she would comfort Michael late in the night. "Oh baby . . ." She breathed into his ear, her voice only audible to the two of them. "What happened, Jase?"

He didn't respond, merely shaking his head against her shoulder, pulling her in almost unbearably tighter.

Lucky and Luke didn't have a clue as to what had just happened, but they both knew it wasn't good.

Already on edge from before he had arrived, the sudden phone calls and Jason's uncharacteristic response, Lucky tensed up further with dread growing in his stomach. He had opened his mouth to demand to know if this was about Emily, when Johnny hung his phone up and glancing over at Jason, deliberately coughed loudly.

And like the signal it was, it brought Jason's full attention back.

Taking a deep breath and catching a whiff of Carly's perfume, he ground his teeth as he stepped back away from her and focused his attention entirely on Johnny. He maintained a gentle, but tight grip on Carly's wrist as he demanded a status report and number count.

"Frances is going to keep an eye on him, until we decide what to do or he shows up here, whatever comes first, but it looks like he's going to the hospital with Scorpio's daughter." Johnny ran a hand through his hair as he spoke, clearly rattled.

"Reynardo & Max are on Emily and your grandmother, respectively. I told you earlier Sonny reassigned Rick on Carly and Michael, but you know I don't trust that bastard as far as I can throw him, so I rearranged my shift to cover him. He's gonna have to go. As far everybody else, we've got 103 for sure, leaving 5 guys who could go either way and 19 that are either loyal to Sonny or in bed with either PCPD, the Feds or Moreno – take your pick. And while I hate the timing on this, the groundwork we've laid with the Commission frees us up on that score, but we're going to need move fast on this, otherwise it's gonna get real ugly, real fucking fast."

Jason nodded and was about to say something, when Luke totally cut him off darkly demanding, "Wanna explain to the rest of us what the hell is going on, Morgan?"

Glaring coldly at Luke, Jason bit out, "There was an attempted hit on Sonny at the No-Name, car bomb, he survived it clean, but Robin is on her the way to the hospital."

Luke stepped back with an impressed expression on his face . . . "You move damn fast, man. Just a minute ago, I was afraid that you were going to let this slide. But that's just damn fast . . ." He shook his head admiringly. Luke's eyes traveled over to see Carly's pale face and his expression darkened as he thought over the implications of Jason 'moving damn fast.'

Jason's eyes went even colder. "Yeah, that would've been fast, _if_ I'd ordered the hit."

The impact of that statement hit everyone in the room not a Spencer like a punch, even as he continued to fire off orders.

"Lucky, you got a piece with you?"

At the kid's shake of his head, Jason nodded to Johnny, who pulled out a Glock and handed it over.

"You stay here with Carly and Michael. Emily will be over in under fifteen. No one but me or Johnny comes through that door otherwise. Trust me, it won't come to that," he nodded to the gun held awkwardly in Lucky hands," I'm going to put more guys on the door and head off Sonny."

He stared into Lucky's eyes, knowing what kind of burden he laying on the kid, and hating it every second, but he knew that he could trust the kid absolutely to protect the three most people important to him. Beside him, he could feel Carly shaking slightly.

This was the last fucking thing he needed and at the worst possible time, but as much as he wanted to, he knew that he couldn't stay – not when all hell was breaking loose and he didn't have a clue where it was coming from.

"Luke – stay or go, I don't give a fuck, but if you leave, you're not getting back in until I've got a handle on this." He didn't even bother to glance at the other man as he turned to Carly and held her gently by the shoulders.

"I've got to go."

"No, no way." She shook her head almost dumbly, her voice taunt with tension. "They went after Sonny, you know that means they're going to come after you too . . . No way in hell."

"They can try, but I've got too much waiting for me here."

"It's too risky."

"And if I don't go, Carly? You know what kind of message that sends – to Moreno, Sonny and the other families. I need you to listen to me and trust me. I _am_ coming back, but for now, I've got to go. Stay here and wait for me . . . Try not to drive your cousin, my sister or our kid crazy, ok?"

He leaned in and dropped a deep kiss that left her legs trembling, before forcing himself to let her go.

Jason walked out the door without a backward glance, Johnny offered Carly a grimace masquerading as a smile before following him out.

And as the door shut, Carly desperately reached out behind her to grab hold of the table to keep her steady of her feet.

Lucky cursed loudly as he tossed the gun on the seat next to him and was there to support help in three long strides. He led her to the couch and sat back across from her, while Luke stared at the now closed door in disbelief.

TBC

Well, I've some dedicated reviewers & I love them dearly, lol. anyone else out there want to say something . . . anything . . . & thanks again for your patience.

It's now official - this story has gone **very** **AU**, hopefully, you still are enjoying my take on GH. (although I'm sure it must be making a little more sense now, lol).

This is more along the lines of how I expected Carly's paternity to be resolved and a far more deserving one that the writers chose to give us. Now that we & Stefan know the truth, it should be fun to see how the rest of Port Charles reacts. I've got lots of ideas for this story so if you've gotten this far, leave me a review. It's good karma, you know :D


	13. Opening Gambit

AN - some explanation is needed. This is set in the past, I'm thinking 98-99. Definitely before the Sonny/Carly hate sex, a little AU (I've cobbled together both Carly new (the incident with the 'real' Carly's dad and the old (i.e. Virginia) pasts - as best as I could remember) and it's sort of Jason/Carly - my first, last & always OTP (one true pairing), but only slightly.

* * *

Chapter 13 – Opening Gambit

"Selling you ELQ is easy enough, but . . ." Alexis took a shaky breath," discussing my cases? You want me to betray confidential privilege?"

When Stefan merely stared at her unrelentingly, she tried again, here voice pitched higher than usual, "You do know that merely discussing this is enough to get me disbarred?"

He shook his head, scoffing at her. "The information would only result in your disbarment, if it left this room. Since that outcome is neither in the family's best interest, nor presumably yours, I do not see it as being an issue."

"You are stalling, Natasha. As you have agreed to my terms and I have offered you the Cassadine's protection, which I might point out that you have already accepted, I expect you to follow through. Either comply or see yourself out." Stefan's eyes narrowed sharply, at the need to repeat himself.

Bowing her head slightly, Alexis sighed, giving in to the inevitable. "The Jones case was . . . unfortunate. As a public defender, I had no choice but to accept the case and do the best I could with it, which in this instance, involved playing on the weakness of the State's primary witness, Carly Roberts."

"Yes, you certainly didn't endear yourself to Caroline," mused Stefan aloud.

Alexis' eyebrow rose ironically. "Well, yes, I suppose that is one way to put it. To be quite frank, I'm fairly certain that she hates me, which is why I was surprised when Jason Morgan called me to work on their behalf with the custody case."

"So how exactly did you 'play on her weaknesses'?" Nikolas interrupted her, his tone not exactly harsh, but definitely not as respectful as she was used to from her nephew.

"Ummm," Alexis floundered for a moment, not particularly thrilled with the prospect of elaborating on her tactics, but when neither Stefan nor Nikolas seemed inclined to let her off the hook, she gritted her teeth and continued her explanation.

"Essentially, I did what I had to do get my client off. Carly had a prior relationship with Tony and a history of mental and emotional instability, not to mention a criminal background and I exploited them. It wasn't particularly ethical, I admit, but it was well within the limits of legal tactics."

Nikolas scoffed in disgust and Stefan's reaction was even more violent, as the glass in his hand abruptly slammed down. Alexis flinched.

"For God's sake, she knowingly slept with her own step-father, Jason Morgan and his brother, _practically_ at the same time and, not to mention the endless lies upon lies. I do not understand this sudden interest in her, when she is nothing more than - "

"My daughter and your niece," Stefan's voice cut her off, his voice dangerously silky.

Alexis blanched.

* * *

Lucky stared at the black metal in his hand, taking a few moments to slide out the magazine, check it, slide it back in and lock it. He held a gun before, of course, even learned to be an accurate shot, but he'd never been given a gun with the actual intention of using it before. It was still cool to the touch, despite the fact that he'd been holding it for the past five minutes.

For his part, Luke didn't like any of this. If the failed hit on Sonny was an attempt to take over the territory, then that put Morgan, Carly and Michael at risk. Not to mention his own kid, who Morgan just armed. "Don't blow your hand off with that. Your mother would never forgive me," he snarked.

"Oh and God forbid we upset Laura . . . the world might suddenly stop revolving around the freakin' sun and then where would we be?" Carly lashed out at him with a vicious glare. "No offence there, Lucky."

"None taken," he wryly responded.

Luke winced, with the realization of what he'd just said. "Oh hell, Carly, now you know I didn't mean it like that."

"I'd stop right there, dad, before you dig yourself in even deeper," Lucky broke in sharply, hoping to cut this latest argument off, before it started.

Jason and Johnny had left no more ten minutes ago and his father and Carly hadn't stopped sniping at each other yet. Under any other circumstance, if it hadn't been for the fact that Emily was on her way over, the possibility of a mob war breaking out and the fact that Jason had entrusted him to guard both his sister and his cousins, then he would have already booked.

"If you're just going to bait Carly, Dad, then maybe you should go," Lucky sighed.

"Yeah, right," Luke scoffed, "like that's actually gonna happen. Nah, I think I'll stay right here and keep my eyes on everything, if you don't mind."

"Well, maybe I mind," Carly snapped back, but it seemed more out of habit to Lucky's ears than out of any real emotion.

Lucky rolled his eyes wearily. "Dad . . ."

"Settle down, Cowboy. Sweet Caroline just needs someone to sharpen her claws on is all. Isn't that right, niece o'mine?"

Carly sneered at him for a moment, not even deigned to deny his statement. She wandered over to the bar and poured herself a stiff shot of vodka. "Yeah, as if I'd want to get that close to you . . . dream on."

* * *

General Hospital was a madhouse - between Scorpio and the rest of the cops, to the press beginning to clamor for information and the obvious mob presence. Looking through the glass doors in resignation at the crowd milling about, Jason could feel a Carly-sized headache coming on.

"You ready for this, man?"

"Not like we've got much of a choice. I'll go in first and find Sonny to do some damage assessment and control, if necessary. You call Alexis and put her on standby in case someone ends up in lockdown. Afterwards, find out what everyone knows, especially Moreno's men, somebody had to have seen something and I want to know what and who. Have a full report by the time we leave."

"You got it, boss." Johnny stepped off to the side, as he watched Jason push open the doors. A sudden path cleared for a moment as everyone got out of his way.

He had to admit there was just something about Jason . . . Love him, hate, fear him or respect – even when the kid had been rank foot-solider, he commanded attention. Johnny shook his head ruefully, before he Alexis finally picked up and then he got back to business.

Jason walked straight to the information desk, keeping his eyes out for Scorpio and Sonny. With any luck, he might get to confront them separately, but the way his night was going it didn't seem likely. He veered off track, when he saw Bobby coming out of the ER rooms.

"Bobby," he called out, keeping his voice loud enough to reach, but low enough not to alert the entire room.

"Oh, Jason!" She exclaimed, rushing towards him. "Thank God, you're ok! No one else got hurt, did they?" She demanded, her eyes bright with anxiety, sighing with relief, when he shook his head in a firm denial.

"Good. No one else came in, but I was worried."

Jason didn't want to get into a conversation with her about Carly and Michael, especially in this crowd, so he quickly diverted that topic. "How's Robyn?"

Bobby winced. "Not good, Jase. She's still in SICU –" At his blank stare, she quickly added, "sorry, the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. It's pretty much still hit or miss at the moment."

"Unfortunately, she took a lot of shrapnel damage from the explosion and given her condition . . . well, I have to say that it isn't a good situation."

"Is she going to die?" He asked, remembering the car-bomb that he had actually witnessed.

"Aww, honey. It's just too soon to tell. I'm so sorry." She shook her head in a concerned motion, patted his arm sympathetically.

Jason's eyes narrowed a bit in confusion. Was Bobby afraid that he was suddenly going to break down? He sighed harshly. Times like this, despite everything that was going on, he wished Carly was here to at least give him some sort clue of how he was supposed to react.

It was true that he had cared about Robin, but that was before. If she died now, well that was one less thing he had to worry about. It wasn't that he wanted her dead, but after everything, he couldn't really say that he'd be sorry if it happened.

Even after that night in the penthouse, he still thought of as important person and wished only the best, but then she'd gone to AJ and Sonny, and that he just couldn't forgive. She'd betrayed his trust and then used that information to try and trash Carly's life, purely out of spite.

Maybe it was his 'damage,' but he couldn't get past that and sure as hell didn't understand Bobby's reaction. He shook his head slightly.

"Do you know where Sonny is?"

"Oh yeah, I guess you'd need to talk to him." Bobbie pressed a hand on his arm as she began to lead him away.

"He was injured too, but obviously not as badly. I had him placed in a private room. Under the circumstances, I thought it best to get him out of sight, with Mac chopping at the bit and all."

She pointed to a closed door. "I'd go in with you but I should go back and see if they need me. When I have more information, I'll stop back and update you, ok?"

Jason nodded at her, before he reluctantly entered the room. Seeing Max, he gestured towards the door and waited as the guard uncertainly glanced over at the silent man sitting on the bed, staring off into the dark window, before he quietly left the room.

Jason's eyes narrowed slightly as he warily approached his partner, taking note of the mess on the floor. "Sonny?"

He didn't even flinch as Sonny abruptly turned to stare him down, a wild glint in his eyes. "Tell me, Jason, did I wreck you too?"

"Wreck me?" Jason warily repeated.

"Yeah, man. I wrecked Lilly, Brenda and now Robin. I wreck everything- nah, _everyone_ - I so much as fucking touch. So now I wanna know, did I wreck you too?"

Jason sighed, trying to figure out what was in Sonny's head.

"I don't know what you're asking me, Sonny."

He winced, hearing his words hang in the oppressively, heavy silence between them.

"Did. I. Wreck. You." Sonny demanded harshly. "Did you fucking _betray me_, _**betray Robin**_ over than two-bit, fuckin' whore?!?"

Blue eyes narrowed unconsciously, even as Jason fought to leash his temper.

"Is that what you think, Sonny? Is that what you really fucking think of me?" Jason demanded his voice as cold as Sonny's demand had been furious.

"I know that bitch Carly and -"

"And nothing, Sonny!" Jason cut him off icily. "Carly has nothing to do with any of this and I'm sick of you insulting her and dragging her into shit that has nothing the fuck to do with her!"

When Sonny opened his mouth to respond, Jason cut him off again ruthlessly.

"No, I'm done with it, Sonny. You've been my boss, my best friend and like a brother to me, but I'm not going to listen to you trashing Carly again. She is only a problem between us if you keep putting her there. For the fucking record, I didn't betray you, Robin or anyone. And if you really believe that I would do this to you after I saw what happened to Lilly, then you don't know me at all!"

Jason shook his head is disgust as he turned towards the door, ready to storm out.

* * *

Staring out at the Port Charles Harbor, Helena's fist clenched in frustrated rage. It seemed this town was only inhabited by gutter-trash, nouveau-riche and incompetent fools. Never mind entering a mutually-satisfying partnership, you couldn't even find a decent minion or two. She turned and called out to Andreas, "Find and get me Cesar Faison on the phone, before noon tomorrow."

Helena brooded over her cup of coffee, as she contemplated the events of earlier that evening, calculating the outcome of the botched hit of Sonny Corinthos. In addition to Faison's expertise, she was going to need to arrange the disposal of her two former employees as well as the protection of Stefan's whelp and her all-important great-grandchild. Given the politics of the laughable Port Charles mafia, she didn't much care who took the blame, but she wouldn't allow it to interfere with her plans. Taking possession of Caroline and the child was one option, but one she would only choose to exercise when it became expedient for her. To do anything otherwise would only not alert the damnable Spencers, but also incur the unwanted attention of her despicably weak son, both of which were two adversaries, she choose to deal on her terms, never theirs.

Besides, this game was only still in the beginning. Spencer, for example, hadn't even made his opening gambit yet. She wondered if it was time to openly announce her presence and how best to maximize the reveal? Perhaps she should force Stefan into divulging the information, but that would play directly into her plan or be too risky a proposition?

By now, she knew that Stefan had realized that Caroline was his daughter and suspected that she was also in possession of that fact. He had even begun in his typically predictable fashion to take steps to circumvent her, but nothing that she hadn't already anticipated. She still had to determine the odds of whether he might take the plunge and make contact with his prodigal daughter, versus if Morgan and Spencer would allow him anywhere near her.

Knowing Stefan, she was more inclined to bet on Morgan and Spencer as ironic as that fact was, but she'd come too far to watch this blow up in her face. Helena mused over how best to cut off any possibility of her son gaining access to her granddaughter. She was well aware that Morgan was going to up her security in the wake of the botched hit on Corinthos, but wasn't sure that alone would be sufficient for her purpose, when a stop-gap solution occurred to her. Smirking, she picked up the phone and dialed a now-familiar number.

"Simon, I have a new task for you."

* * *

Alexis clenched her hands together as she struggled to absorb Stefan's bombshell, her mind for one endless moment completely blank.

Eventually, she looked up at Stefan, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the room and gasped, "How?"

Stefan smirked without humor. "If at your age, Natasha, you need me to explain the facts of life, we are in more straits then I had previously assumed."

She flushed wildly at his implication, even as he sighed; only slightly mollified.

"Do you remember the trip I took with father and Starvos to Florida, years ago and I brought you back some saltwater taffy?"

When she nodded her head, he continued. "Well, I left out an encounter I had with young, red-headed prostitute – Bobbie Spencer, as it turns out. Although it's hardily an excuse, I was young and it was a one-time. Afterwards, I returned home and then Laura arrived . . . I never thought of her again, until last week."

He scoffed to himself, as he walked past her to regain possession of his glass of brandy.

"Bobbie had said something odd to me about Caroline, more than she ever meant, I'm sure and it piqued my interest, so I did a little big of digging. I didn't get very far, until I Helena found out about my interest and sent me "a little present" that sparked my memory. I went ahead and a DNA test performed, but I had already figured it out. Caroline is my daughter, not only did they abandoned her into a horrible situation, but when she found Bobbie, that _woman_ sought to continue to hide that knowledge from me."

He turned away from them, nursing his glass, as his voice grew colder with the force of his rage.

"And as if matters weren't _difficult_ enough, in the absence of any kind of a decent father figure, my daughter has embroiled herself with the Quatermaines, the mob, Helena is aware of her existence and making plans I shudder to imagine, and to top everything Laura is running telling maliciously, vicious tales in effort to make sure Caroline permanently loses custody of her son, my grandson!"

Stefan's knuckles grew white, before he suddenly flung his glass across the room and watched as the glass shattered and the amber liquid spilled down the wall. He turned back to stare his sister down.

"Understand me now, Natasha. From this moment on, my daughter and her son are considered Cassadines, with all the privileges they are entitled to and I will not allow anyone – the Quatermaines, Morgan, my dearest mother or even you to stand in the way of that."

Alexis gaped at him.

TBC

Well, the story has now gone completely **AU**, but I can't say anything more for fear of ruining the surprise, but feel free to guess (although I'm sure it must be making a little more sense now, lol).

This chapter was shorter then intended (& very much delayed), but I blame that entirely on Stefan, he's very anxious to meet Carly & has been very difficult to write unless I let him go ahead. Hopefully, the next chapter will be out much sooner. I've got lots of ideas for this story so if you've gotten this far, leave me a review. It's good karma, you know :D


	14. Blood Sports

AN - some explanation is needed. This is set in the past, I'm thinking 98-99. Definitely before the Sonny/Carly hate sex, a little AU (I've cobbled together both Carly new (the incident with the 'real' Carly's dad and the old (i.e. Virginia) pasts - as best as I could remember) and it's Jason/Carly - my first, last & always OTP (one true pairing), but only slightly.

* * *

Chapter 14 – Blood Sports

In the silence that followed Stefan's proclamation, Alexis' bag began to rumble slightly. She automatically reached to pull out her cell phone, wincing when she saw the number.

Stefan sighed in frustration. "Ignore it, Natasha. I need your attention in the here and now. Family business takes precedence over - "

Still wincing, she interrupted him. "Under the circumstances, I think you might actually want me to take this call." Her voice was husky with trepidation.

Stefan's narrowed impatiently as he silently demanded an explanation.

"It's Johnny O'Brien." At Stefan and Nikolas' blank stares, Alexis elaborated with a shade of impertinence. "Johnny – bodyguard, occasional enforcer, works for Sonny and Jason, and is usually found guarding Carly. If he's calling at this hour, then something must be going on with one of them."

Stefan stared her down for a moment, before nodding his permission allowing her to answer it.

The muted response on the other end of the phone call wasn't loud enough for anyone else to hear, but Alexis' responses were enough to put them both on edge. Mindful of that fact, she interrupted Johnny to ask, "But Carly is fine, right?"

Johnny was silent for a moment, puzzled by that offbeat question, but when she repeated louder, the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

"Where are you?"

He brusquely demanded and when Alexis paused, before quickly responded in a sharper that usual snide manner that she was in her office not that it was any of his business, his suspicion gave way to a near certainty.

She asked again about Carly and he cut her off with the terse statement that Carly wasn't on the scene and ordering her to "get her ass down to the hospital", before hanging up abruptly.

Sighing, Johnny glanced around to see who was around.

Eventually he spotted one of their guys and sent him off to check out Alexis' office. Something was up with her if she was bothering to lie to him and considering the Cassadine situation, he wasn't about to take anything for granted.

Keeping an eye out for Scorpio, he began walking around, listening to the snatches of conversation going on around him, making mental notes of what he overheard.

Apparently, one of Moreno's guys actually saw the two bombers and from the description, Johnny thought he might know one of them. Mitch something, a local loser Sonny had used a few times. Johnny always wondered why Sonny never had someone rub him out after his last fuck-up.

When one of Moreno's goons started staring at him, Johnny moved on, snagging of their guys and sent him off to try and locate Mitch. He was debating calling Jason, when he suddenly spotted him.

Jason was pissed.

If he had been anywhere other than where he was, he would have trashed the place and if he had been anyone other than himself, the crowd probably would have pulled out their weapons while running for cover, but being Jason Morgan the only person truly aware of the imminent danger was Johnny who all too well recognized the deadly look in his boss's eyes.

With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Johnny acknowledged two things – Jason's meeting with Sonny had not gone well and that the shit was about to hit the fan.

Focused as he was on Jason, he almost missed the sight of Scorpio stalking past him. "Fucking hell . . ." He swore to himself, even as he moved faster. This was not going to end well.

* * *

As the doorknob began to turn, everyone tensed and Lucky's hand tightened on the grip of the gun. A soft sound of relief was heard when Emily walked through the doorway, tossing a book bag heavily on the floor.

"Ok, now that I've arrived, will someone please tell what the hell is going on?" Emily demanded in an annoyed voice, throwing her hands up in frustration.

"It's hard enough trying to study in that madhouse, never mind getting dragged out without even so much as an explanation. If I get busted for this, I'm going to kick someone's ass!"

Carly laughed. "Make sure I'm around to see it."

Emily actually snarled in response to Carly's apparent nonchalance. Her eyes glanced over each one of them in turn with an alarmingly devastating accuracy, before zeroing her umber eyes on her best friend.

Taken totally aback, Lucky stammered, literally gob smacked for the first time in his entire life by this unexpected, not to mention unprovoked in his opinion, attack by his usually sweet Em.

He broke eye contact and looked desperately towards his father and cousin. "Ummm . . . help here? Please?"

Carly immediately refused to make eye contact and Luke, damn him, only snickered in response.

Left with no other options, Lucky reluctantly turned to his irate best friend with a tentative smile, his mind utterly blanking as to what he was actually going to say, when his cell phone suddenly saved him. Before the ring had even finished, he yanked it out of his pocket and with an apologetic shrug, quickly answered it, without even glancing at the number.

"Jason?"

There was a long pause on the other end, before an unexpected voice responded.

"Where are you, Lucky?"

Aww, fuck. Lucky winced, before running his hand through his hair frustrated with himself.

"Sorry Nik, things have been . . . a little hectic lately." He sighed audibly. "You know this _really_ isn't a good time, right now. I'm gonna have to call you back later, ok?"

Although everyone was already watched him as soon as he answered the phone, upon hearing Nik's name Carly's attention intensified and Luke's expressions darkened as he now stared at Lucky suspiciously.

"If by not 'a good time' you mean that someone attempted a hit on the Corinthos-Morgan organization, then yes, I am _well_ aware of that fact, which is precisely why I called you. We are still brothers despite our . . . disagreements."

Lucky's eyes widened as he checked his watch. They had only found out 20 minutes ago, so how the _hell _did Nikolas know already? Something was definitely going on. He turned into the couch slightly as his voice lowered.

"What are you talking about?" He demanded in a colder tone then he had really waned to.

Nikolas scoffed impatiently.

"I'm sure that most of Port Charles knows by this point. For future reference, car explosions involving both alleged mobsters and the police commissioner's daughter in a public parking lot does tend to make the rounds rather quickly."

He replied in a dry voice that belied his anxiety expressed only by his involuntary tapping of his fingers.

Ignoring his father's unwavering stare, he continued,

"Naturally, as a concerned brother, who knows of your involvement with said mobster's organization, I wanted to make sure you were ok. That is still permitted, is it not?"

Lucy sighed again, because when you put it that way, it sounded plausible enough. Maybe, just maybe, he's was getting to be as paranoid as Luke when it came to the "Cassadine Threat".

"Yeah, ok. I'm fine, I was nowhere near when it happened but this still really isn't a good time to talk, I need my phone free."

Nikolas briefly closed his eyes in relief. Alexis hadn't mentioned Lucky, but under the circumstances who the hell knew what was going on.

"Well, I'm glad you're not injured. Are you at the hospital?"

"No . . ." Lucky drew out the word and paused cautiously. Brotherly concern was one thing, but why did Nik keep asking where he was?

Nikolas smoothly responded. "Ok then, I was going to ask you how Robyn is, but I guess you wouldn't know. In that case I'll let you go. Talk to you later then."

He waited for Lucky to make his goodbye and hung up, leaning heavily into his chair. He hadn't gotten nearly as much as he had hoped, but was unwilling to push his luck any further.

"Well, that was a fairly useless endeavor." Stefan's ground out, in a tightly controlled voice.

Letting his eyes fall shut, Nik tiredly responded.

"I don't know what you expected to learn. We already knew that Carly, Lucky, Luke, Michael and now Emily are all together, likely entrenched in Morgan's penthouse. Considering Lucky and Luke's presence, not to mention the increase in Morgan's men that indicate they are expecting retaliation from someone."

"Yes and that is what worries me. This wasn't an attempted coup. Morgan wouldn't have been so careless, so Corinthos aside, where is the treat coming from – the mafia or elsewhere?"

Nikolas' eyes sprung open and Stefan wryly shook his head.

"I did mention that your grandmother has been spotted skulking around the Port Charles Harbor, didn't I?"

Nikolas mumbled a particularly vile Greek curse in realization.

* * *

"Morgan," Mac barked, with Taggert pulling up the rear sneering, as he stormed into Jason's path one hand hitting the younger man squarely in the chest.

"Scorpio." Jason replied in kind, his eyes flat and stony, even as he attempted to brush past him.

Taggert snagged his arm with a tight grip.

"Whoa, whoa there, Angerboy, we ain't even begun with you yet . . ."

Jason stiffened as he brusquely shook off Taggert's hand.

"Am I under arrest?" He demanded in a low tone.

"Keep it up and you will be." Taggert muttered surly.

Mac glared at Taggert, before turning back to fume at Morgan.

"Don't push me, Morgan! That's Robyn, my niece, fighting for her life in there."

"Yeah . . . and your point is?" Jason bit out impatiently.

"You sonovabitch!"

Mac saw red and lunged towards him, only to collide into the larger body of Johnny who easily shoved the commissioner back a few feet.

Now standing in front and just off to the side of Jason, Johnny glared back at the two officers. He opened his mouth, but was cut off before he had the chance to say anything.

"And in front of all witness's," Alexis' voice chided as she walked up to the hostile group, "very sloppy, commissioner."

Standing off to the side of the four of them, she shook her head in a show of thinly-veiled condescension.

Taggert's eyes narrowed in disappointment. In just 30 seconds, he watched his chances of arresting Morgan go up in smoke.

She took a moment to adjust her glasses, before turning slightly as she directed the full force of her attention on Mac.

"Now unless you have a warrant for my client's arrest, I believe this conversation is over . . . Unless of course, Mr. Morgan wishes to press charges against _you_ for what I must say might be the clearest case of attempted police brutality I've ever been unfortunate enough to witness."

The hate-filled glare that swung her way started her already fragile nerves as she met Mac's eyes before they refocused on Morgan for a long, intense moment.

"He's free to go,' Mac bit out the words bitterly. "But if she dies, Morgan, I'll be getting that warrant and not even Ms Davis will be able to save your ass from me!"

He spun away, Taggert following at his heels.

Alexis let go of his breath, before turning to face Jason and Johnny.

She studied them both for a moment.

Morgan was as expressionless as ever, she mused to herself, re-examining him in the light of her new-found information. Her head tilted slightly as she tried to imagine him with Carly, her niece. The very thought was galling on an intrinsic level.

Family relationships aside, the girl irked her and the fact that they actually shared the same blood was beyond disturbing. So Carly was adopted, it certainly didn't justify her behavior . . . at least she hadn't been forced to witness her own mother's murder and at the hands of Helena, no less.

Jason's attraction to her was one thing, obviously Carly knew how to please men in bed – that much was obvious from her history, although Alexis couldn't imagine how much of a cold fish Morgan must be in the bedroom. The fact that both Stefan and Nikolas seemed equally blind to her faults was, quite frankly, mind-boggling.

Stefan's reaction, she could almost understand. Assuming the DNA results were correct, she was his daughter and if nothing else, Stefan was near obsessively protective of his family, but it's not like he had watched her grow up, or even had had one conversation with Carly. Perhaps his reaction was one of responsibility and guilt . . .

But Nikolas? His unexpected support didn't make any sense. Alexis vividly recalled a conversation she had walked into between Robyn and her nephew last month. Inevitably, the topic of Carly had come up and Nik had nodded in agreement as his friend began one of her endless litanies of the evils of Carly Spenser.

A cough drew her attention back to the matter at hand and Alexis blinked only to be confronted by Johnny's suspicious stare.

"Keeping the peace as always, I see," she snidely remarked, with a supercilious sneer she hoped divert his attention.

Johnny ignored the obvious dig, instead he challenged her.

"25 minutes? Considering that your office is around the corner that's odd under the circumstances, almost like you had to come from across town. What happened, Lexie, you ran into traffic at this hour?"

She responded by crossing her arms in front of her chest and dismissed him, turning to face Jason, whose eyes moved from Johnny to her, narrowing slightly.

"May I assume that we are done here for the night?"

Jason stared at her long enough to make her feel like a butterfly about to pinned up for display for he nodded in agreement.

"You'll be called if you're needed."

And with that, he walked past her, summarily dismissing _her_. Johnny smirked at her, before he followed suit, leaving Alexis with a phone call to make, even as she seethed in frustration. Jason might be austere and an unreasonable client, but having to deal with his obnoxious minion was enough to drive her mad.

* * *

Once Johnny sat down opposite him, the engine started. Jason stared out the window for a moment, watching the blur of lights.

"Do we have a problem I need to know about?"

Johnny froze for a moment.

The question hadn't taken him by surprise . . . not exactly, anyway. He'd been expected it from the moment they entered the limo, but since Jason hadn't asked already, he assumed . . . whatever it didn't matter anymore.

Johnny sighed, he knew a multi-layered question when he heard it, but he decided to answer only the most pressing aspect – no need to throw gas on the fire, they were in enough shit as it was at the moment.

"Ms Davis," he sarcastically referred to her, "has thrown in with her brother, who you can bet is well aware of anything she knows now."

Jason stared back at Johnny impatiently, waiting for him to continue.

"She lied to me on the phone. She didn't come from her office, so I'm pretty sure she was at Spook Island."

Jason raised an eyebrow.

"You've been hanging around Luke too much, man."

Johnny shrugged.

"If there is one thing I've learned from the Spencer's it's just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. Anyway, I've got a guy checking on it to be sure, but it's pretty much a given and she was very curious to know if Carly had been involved in the hit."

"Great, just fucking great . . . " Jason scoffed, running a hand through his hair.

He leaned back, trying to get his thoughts in order.

Before he could even begin to get a handle on the Spencer-Cassadine shit, he need to deal with Sonny, whoever the hell tried to hit them, all while keeping Scorpio and Taggert off of his ass. Luke and maybe Lucky, if he didn't need the kid elsewhere would take care of Stefan. Luke, after all, lived for that shit and it would keep him hopefully out of Carly's way for awhile, which would be a nice benefit.

Sonny was unstable as fuck, even worse than he was after Lilly's death. He would have to be taken out of the equation, one way or another, before this was over. But first thing first, he needed to figure out who was making a grab for their territory and that was what was really fucking with him. Moreno would be the primary a contender and was a bastard, to be sure, but Jason didn't figure him for trying something like this.

No, whoever did it was either sloppy as hell or sneaky as fuck. Stupid enough to go after Sonny first, when anyone who was wise should've have come after him instead, sloppy enough to botch it and a moron for attempting it at the No-Name which is neutral territory. Unless they were counting on Sonny and the Committee assuming that he had tried to make the power grab, but no one in the know other than Sonny would buy that and Sonny was hardily a threat to him.

No matter how Jason figured it, he couldn't make any sense of it, not to mention the fact that trying was giving him a Carly-sized headache.

* * *

Listening to Lucky's explanation did little to quail Emily's frustration and she pouting at Jason's desk. Apparently, she somehow came to the conclusion that Lucky was to blame for her inconvenience and had decided to ignore him as she began pulling out her laptop to do her homework, grumbling to herself.

Seeing the pout on Lucky' face almost made Carly feel sympathetic . . . but not quite. She still had her own axe to grind with her cousin and Jason wasn't around to distract her this time.

"So Lucky . . . did Nik have anything interesting to say?"

She asked, sliding into the seat next to him.

Lucky's expression instantly changed from petulant to near panic-stricken as his thoughts raced. Damn . . . so for much for any hopes that she'd forgotten.

Jason had been pretty clear on the fact that he hadn't mentioned any of their suspicious to Carly. He hadn't come out and said expressly not to tell, but it had been strongly implied and Lucky still wanted to come out of this situation alive and intact.

"Ahhh, no, not really. He heard about what happened and wanted to make sure I was ok."

Carly nodded her head. "Yeah, I can understand that. It's kinda funny though when you think about it." She pointedly added glancing at Luke who was staring at the two of them as one would observe a wild animal exhibit at a zoo.

Wincing and knowing he was going to regret taking the bait, Lucky gave in anyway, asking, "Why's it funny?"

She smirked. "Well, with Nicky being a vampire and all, who have though he'd be concerned about a half-brother. It's just ironic, considering that some people in this very room think nothing of issuing death threats to their full-blood relatives."

Emily perked up, as she turned slightly, waiting to see the fallout on this Spencer drama. Lucky slunk even lower in the couch, wishing yet again that he was anywhere else. Luke's eyes brightened in anticipation of a knock-down drag-out fight, as stepped towards Carly, who was now standing up herself, complete with a head full of steam.

"What's the matter, little girl? You running out of material on me, 'cause I know I've heard that song before," he taunted her.

"Hey, why change it, when it's still true, uncle?" She retorted.

Luke shook his head mock sadly. "Didn't anyone ever teach you that using the same hammer, it eventually loses its impact? I expected more from you . . . guess I should've known better."

"Oh, I learned all sort of things, Luke." She drawled, decided not to pull her punches anymore.

"But you wouldn't know any of that, of course, since you couldn't wait to get rid of me when I was a baby and never bother to get to know me since I got here."

"And here we go again . . ." Lucky mumbled to himself, careful not to draw their attention. He was pleasantly surprised when Emily suddenly slid in next to him.

"They've been going like this for a while?" She whispered as quietly as possible.

"Yeah, pretty much until you got here," he answered just as quietly.

"Think we should break it up?"

He lifted an eyebrow in surprise. "Go right ahead . . . I'll mourn you at your funeral."

"All we need now is some popcorn or something."

Lucky glanced at her, a slight frown on his face. "Since when have been into blood spots?"

She quietly chuckled, digging out a comfortable spot under his arm, as she leaned back to watch the action.

"Whine, whine, whine . . . Don't suppose it ever occurred to you to once you got into Port Charles, to simply walk up and say something to one of us instead of sneaking around and plotting?" Luke demanded, getting angry despite himself.

"Whine?!? You sonovabitch!" Carly's eyes darkened into something that promised swift retaliation.

He knew full well that he wasn't exactly playing to the script and if Bobbie was here and listening, she'd probably try to kick his ass for it, but his frustration was beginning to get the better of him. The smart thing would be to simply cut his losses for the day and walk out, but three things kept him there.

He knew Jason wasn't messing around. If Luke walked out, then he wouldn't be getting back in, not until Morgan showed back up anyway, whenever that might be. Not even counting the guards, he knew Lucky could and would use that gun if necessary, but Luke wasn't about to leave that kind of burden on his kid. Spencers protected their own, end of story. If anyone who didn't belong tried to come through that door, Luke was going to take their heads off himself.

Secondly, he had a pretty idea of why Carly was going after him in the first place. No way in hell, she forgot their slip-up about the vamps, but she had decided not to push it, which was smart. The last thing she needed was something else to worry about with Jason out dealing with an attempted hit. Picking a fight with him was pure distraction and classic Spencer tradition. If she wasn't pissing him off so much, with her shots, he'd actually be proud of her for it.

And that brought him back to his problem. She'd fight with him because it was safe and he understood that mentality all too well. Back when he gave her that half-way serious death-threat, Bobbie was still in the dark about Carly being her daughter, which is how they both wanted it. Luke, because he was so damn sure it was the best way to protect his little sister and Carly, because despite whatever the hell he had convinced herself that she wanted revenge, one some level still wanted to preserve the unrealistic hope that her mother loved her.

Yeah, it made no sense, considering that shit with Tony, but since Bobbie didn't know Carly was her daughter, the fact that she hated Carly for breaking up her marriage didn't mean that she hated Carly, her daughter. Fucked-up logic to be sure, but Luke understood that kind of convoluted rationalization and it paled in consideration of some of the shit he had convinced himself of over the years.

As angry as Carly might be at Bobbie, there was always going to be a part of her that longed for a loving mother-daughter relationship, but in order for that to happen, Carly needed someone else to blame. And that was where he fit in, the perfect target for Carly to vent against, since according to Carly's logic, she didn't have anything to lose with him. It played in perfectly with his script, except he knew the one thing she didn't – he wasn't about to go anywhere. By his logic, admittedly equally fucked-up, it made sense, he thought of it as his penitence.

Unfortunately, her sniping was all too accurate. Getting pissed and lashing back, wasn't part of the plan, but it was getting harder to control himself. The last thing he wanted to do is to further ostracize her. Whether she liked it or not, they were family, and before they were done, she was going to realize that she couldn't chase him away.

TBC

Well, the story has now gone completely **AU**, lol, & I'm not done yet. Hopefully, the next chapter will be out much sooner. I've got lots of ideas for this story so if you've gotten this far, leave me a review. It's good karma, you know :D


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